The Olympians read Percy Jackson: SoM
by Elandil
Summary: What would happen, if, on the night that Thalia died, the gods received a note and a rather strange package...? Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters, though I guess the gods are kinda public property. Book 2.
1. Prologue

**A/N: sorry it took so long to start this story off, but I guess you can call it a lack of inspiration. That, and I have exams. Anyway, here is the first chapter of the new book I hope you enjoy and continue to support me throughout this one as you did with the last. Ella**

* * *

When Poseidon and Percy finally made their way back into the throne room, they found that they were the last ones to arrive. Even as they took their seats, they were still laughing hysterically, completely oblivious to the atmosphere that was hanging heavily over everyone.

The gods, in the most part, were looking rather pleased with themselves, the lady of the Dove especially so, but some, well, some of them were not too happy.

Hades, now in the arms of his wife who was trying desperately to calm him, was covered in something that looked suspiciously like blue paint while he was glaring across the room at Hermes. The afore mentioned god of thieves however, was having a hard time not rolling out of his chair thanks to the force of his laughter.

Next to him, the sun god kept shooting murderous/ pouting looks at his son while rubbing his arm as the boy studiously ignored him and the god of the forges seemed to be supporting something that looked suspiciously like a black eye.

Yes, the assembled gods did look rather strange at the moment, but it was nothing compared to the way that their children were acting. For starters, Connor was no where to be found, no, scratch that, he was hanging upside down from the ceiling and his brother seemed to be having a hard time keeping a straight face. The daughter of Demeter was looking every where but at her mother as she tried to remove the grassy handcuffs that held her to her chair and Thalia seemed to have swapped seats with Annabeth, leaving a space between her and her brother.

On the other hand however, Piper was looking absolutely radiant, gathering the attention of all the males in the room, (even the ones whose wives kept shooting them disapproving looks) while she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there and the daughter of Ares looked as though she had lost a fight with a wild animal (probably her father.)

As soon as the sea prince arrived, the daughter of Athena leaped straight into his arms and refused to move for a good 10 minutes while their parents looked on in confusion and Octavian was remaining strangely quiet for the first time since his arrival, yes, just another normal day for the Olympian family.

Smiling sweetly as she took her place at the hearth, Hestia shot everyone a warm look before speaking.

"So, what did you all get up to?"

Her voice was so innocent that is was obvious that she already knew and that she found the whole situation highly amusing, but no one wanted to answer her, none of them were in the mood to.

More time passed and eventually, Apollo got bored of sitting in silence. Before, however, he could begin saying something that was sure to annoy most of his siblings (as was the normal for him) another violet light filled the room, drawing everyone's attention to the new arrival.

In the centre of the room, there now stood a teenage boy with blond hair and a round face, dressed in a camp half blood T-shirt and jeans. The reaction of the older demigods was instant.

"Castor?"

"That's impossible!"

"I can't see it as being anyone else!"

"But it can't be Castor he's d…"

"SHUT UP!"

The loud outburst that came from the daughter of Zeus was enough to gain her wish as the Stolls and Will instantly stopped talking, staring at the new arrival in shock.

"It has to be Castor."

Annabeth whispered to the others, the gears in her head beginning to turn over the information gained from the last few hours reading and the arrival of the son of Dionysus. All of the others nodded ad her in agreement before turning back to the grinning boy in awe. Finally, Zeus became bored of being in the dark about this matter and he baked out.

"Don't just stand there boy, introduce yourself then go find your seat!"

Looking a little shocked, the boy turned to the king of the gods, bowed and addressed the room before going to claim the new chair that had appeared upon his arrival.

"My name is Castor, son of Dionysus."

When he had seated himself, he began waving a paper novel in his hands at them before speaking.

"I was told to come and get the reading started for the next book!"

Athena sighed as some of her brothers stared at the boy in horror, completely irritated that they would not relish the chance of learning more about their future. Trying to be as kind as possible, for it was not the boy' fault that she was unhappy, she addressed him.

"Go on then Castor, if you will."

Taking a deep breath, the boy began to read.

"**My Best Friend Shops for a Wedding Dress"**


	2. My Best Friend Shops for a Wedding Dress

**My Best Friend Shops for a Wedding Dress.**

There was dead silence as everyone in the room turned to look at a certain daughter of Athena who, herself, was looking rather shocked. Finally, Poseidon asked the question that everyone was thinking just as the girls mother started screaming.

"Why were you shopping for a wedding dress?"

"ANNABETH, YOU ARE FAR TOO YOUNG!"

The goddess of wisdom suddenly turned to glare at the sea prince who had begun laughing his head off at the gods' reactions.

"What is so funny sea spawn?"

Trying to regain his composure, Percy attempted to remain dignified as he talked to the deity.

"With all due respect and everything, but don't you all think that you are jumping to conclusions? I have more than one best friend you know!"

The room went silent as everyone processed this new information. If it wasn't Annabeth, that could only leave…

**My nightmare started like this.**

**I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.**

_**Florida,**___**I thought. Though I wasn't sure how I knew that. I'd never been to Florida.**

"I never did find an explanation for that."

All eyes turned to the sea god who just shrugged.

"All coast lines are different, they are easy to tell apart for my kids!"

At the pride in their brother's voice, the other two men just rolled their eyes, no point starting an argument over such a stupid thing.

**Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life.**

**Yeah, I said**_**hooves.**_

"SO the one getting married is _Grover?" _Travis laughed so hard at this that he nearly fell out of his chair before he stopped suddenly.

"Hey! Why weren't we sent an invite?"

Everyone jumped as the daughter of Ares took up his previous merriment.

"Because you weren't special enough!"

"Wait… you mean… _you _were invited?"

"Yep!"

"Damn I need to talk to G-man after this!"

**Grover is a satyr.**

"Wow, really? I never would have guessed!" Nico laughed watching his cousin go bright red with embarrassment.

"Give me a break, I was 13!"

"No, you shall never have a break, I shall stalk you to the edges of the earth!"

"….. No thanks. I'm just not into you that way."

"Darn it!"

Laughter filled the room once again as the two bickered back and forth Aphrodite getting a strange look on her face as she watched the teens.

**From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne.**

More laughter filled the room at the satyr's expense.

**He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don't recommend), you'd never know there was anything un-human about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he's got furry hindquarters and hooves.**

**Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He'd gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth**

"Aw, is that all I am to you? Just some girl that you used to know?"

The pouting look that the daughter of wisdom gave her boyfriend was enough to make him splutter as he grabbed hold of her hand.

"No… you are… I mean… um… I love you?"

To everyone's surprise, the girl cracked up.

"Its okay seaweed brain, it was a joke!"

"Meanie!"

"Child!"

"Owl head!"

"Barnacle breath!"

"Wow you guys sound like your parents!" Apollo laughed out, cutting the two off as they looked away guiltily. Then the sun god gasped, clapping his hands together. "So that must be why they fight all the time!"

"And why would that be brother?" Hermes leaned forward intrigued, hoping for some jucy black mail opportunities.

"Oh, no reason!"

**to save the world, but I hadn't seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from.**

All of the demigods flinched at this, but Castor read on.

**Anyway, in my dream, Grover was hauling goat tail, holding his human shoes in his hands the way he does when he needs to move fast. He clopped past the little tourist shops and surfboard rental places. The wind bent the palm trees almost to the ground.**

**Grover was terrified of something behind him. He must've just come from the beach. Wet sand was caked in his fur. He'd escaped from somewhere. He was trying to get away from ... something.**

"Who's he running away from?" Thalia leaned around her brother to look at the couple on Percy's chair. To her dismay, they just grinned at each other and spoke at the same time.

"No Body!"

All of the older Greek demigods groaned, not this joke again!

**A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. Behind Grover, at the far end of the block, a shadowy figure loomed. It swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks.**

"Pwetty!" everyone turned to look at Annabeth's lap where the baby Percy had just woken up.

"Um, I don't think he gets the situation!" Jason laughed, setting everyone else off.

**Grover stumbled, whimpering in fear.**

"Owowowowowow… THALIA MARIE GRACE, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

Everyone turned to stare at the god of the skies who was surrounded by sapphire energy as Thalia cracked up.

"You were smiling, what else was I going to do?"

This, for some reason, drew a curious stare from Castor as he looked at the girl.

"Thalia?"

"Yep?"

"You're a tree?"

"What?"

There was silence as everyone turned to look at the son of Dionysus.

"I'm what?"

"A tree!"

That was when everything finally clicked in Annabeth's head.

"That's it!"

"That's what?"

"Why everyone seems to know different things… Its time!"

All eyes turned to look at her with a blank look as her boyfriend spoke for all of them.

"Huh?"

The girl sighed but leaned back, "I'll explain later, just read on Castor."

**He muttered to himself,**_**Have to get away. Have to warn them!**_

**I couldn't see what was chasing him, but I could hear it muttering and cursing. The ground shook as it got closer. Grover dashed around a street corner and faltered. He'd run into a dead-end courtyard full of shops. No time to back up. The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. The sign above the darkened display window read: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE.**

**Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wedding dresses.**

**The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. I could smell the thing—a sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird sour body odor only monsters can have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food.**

"Ewwie Ewwie Ewwie!" Came the screech from the love goddess.

"Mom… how old are you?"

"3!"

"Exact… wait, _what?"_

Everyone laughed as Piper turned to glare at her mother who proceeded to stick her tongue out, causing the laughter to increase in volume yet again.

**Grover trembled behind the wedding dresses. The monster's shadow passed on.**

**Silence except for the rain. Grover took a deep breath. Maybe the thing was gone.**

"I doubt it!" Ares chuckled darkly, kicking his legs up and summoning some pop corn so as to fully enjoy the fight.

_**Then lightning flashed. The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed: "MIIIIINE!"**_

"No, he's miiiiiiine!" Hermes called out before he ran up and snatched baby Percy from Annabeth. "Come on little cuz, I have some things to teach you!"

"Um, Lord Hermes, I'm right here!"

"Yes Percy, yes you are!"

"Not what I meant!"

"I know."

_**I sat bolt upright, shivering in my bed.**_

**There was no storm. No monster.**

"Ugh got to hate demigod dreams!" Will shuddered as all the others nodded in agreement.

**Morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom window.**

**I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the glass—a humanlike shape.**

"Who was that?" Piper asked the boy, intrigued at the fact he would have this dream just as someone was watching him sleep.

"I'm guessing Nico, after what he said about the stalking thing!" Connor laughed, poking the son of Hades.

"Nah, it wasn't him." Percy decided to give his cousin a break after about 5 minutes of them picking on the boy for stalking the sea prince.

"Who was it then?"

Once again, the couple replied in unison. "No body!"

"That is getting really old now, can you just explain the inside joke please?" Thalia sighed, face palming.

To everyone's surprise, it was Clarisse who spoke up. "Never!"

"Um… Okay?"

**But then there was a knock on my bed room door—my mom called: "Percy, you're going to be late"—and the shadow at the window disappeared.**

**It must've been my imagination. A fifth-story window with a rickety old fire escape ... there couldn't have been anyone out there.**

Annabeth grinned while snuggling closer to her boyfriend.

**"Come on, dear," my mother called again. "Last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it!"**

**"Coming," I managed.**

**I felt under my pillow. My fingers closed reassuringly around the ballpoint pen I always slept with. I brought it out, studied the Ancient Greek writing engraved on the side:**_**Anaklusmos.**___**Riptide.**

**I thought about uncapping it, but something held me back. I hadn't used Riptide for so long….**

"Really? You didn't practice at all?" Annabeth looked at him disbelievingly. "Did you want to die that badly?"

Percy shot her a strange look. "Yes, because there a plenty of places to practice with a sword in New York!"

"… Point taken."

**Besides, my mom had made me promise not to use deadly weapons in the apartment after I'd swung a javelin the wrong way and taken out her china cabinet.**

Everyone laughed at this and Hermes leaned forward so as to see around the baby on his lap. "You sure you're not one of mine Perc? I would be happy to adopt you!"

"No thanks Lord Hermes."

"Damn, oh well, it was worth a shot!"

**I put Anaklusmos on my nightstand and dragged myself out of bed.**

**I got dressed as quickly as I could. I tried not to think about my nightmare or monsters or the shadow at my window.**

_**Have to get away. Have to warn them!**_

**What had Grover meant?**

**I made a three-fingered claw over my heart and pushed outward—an ancient gesture Grover had once taught me for warding off evil.**

**The dream couldn't have been real.**

"I thought all of your dreams like that were prophetic Percy, why did you ignore it?" Rachel asked, looking shocked. The boy just shrugged.

"I hate mornings!"

**Last day of school. My mom was right, I should have been excited. For the first time in my life, I'd almost made it an entire year without getting expelled. No weird accidents. No fights in the classroom. No teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me with poisoned cafeteria food or exploding homework.**

"Hey, Perce…"

"Yes Leo?"

"Thanks for the idea!"

"Umm… you're welcome?"

**Tomorrow, I'd be on my way to my favorite place in the world—Camp Half-Blood.**

**Only one more day to go. Surely even I couldn't mess that up.**

"You do realize you just jinxed it don't you?" Frank called across to him.

"Yeah, I have a habit of doing that!"

**As usual, I didn't have a clue how wrong I was.**

Everyone cracked up at this. Trust Percy to run into trouble no matter where he goes.

**My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast. She's funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it's her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.**

"I love Sally's cooking!" Thalia almost drooled onto her brother's shoulder as she leaned on him. "Her waffles are the best!"

"No, the pancakes are better!" Annabeth corrected her.

"No, the birthday cake!" Nico joined in. This went on for several long minutes before all three turned back to Percy, seeking his opinion. The sea prince paled and chose the most diplomatic option.

"I prefer her cookies!"

To stop the argument from starting again, Castor quickly read on.

**I ate at the kitchen table while my mom washed dishes. She was dressed in her work uniform—a starry blue skirt and a red-and-white striped blouse she wore to sell candy at Sweet on America. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.**

**The waffles tasted great, but I guess I wasn't digging in like I usually did. My mom looked over and frowned. "Percy, are you all right?"**

**"Yeah ... fine."**

"Lying to your own mother? You definitely sure you aren't my kid Percy?"

"Stop trying to steal my son Hermes."

"Sorry uncle P."

**But she could always tell when something was bothering me. She dried her hands and sat down across from me. "School, or ..."**

**She didn't need to finish. I knew what she was asking.**

**"I think Grover's in trouble," I said, and I told her about my dream.**

**She pursed her lips. We didn't talk much about the**_**other**___**part of my life. We tried to live as normally as possible, but my mom knew all about Grover.**

**"I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from ... from camp..." Her shoulders tensed as she said the word**_**camp.**_

Thalia flinched and paled, drawing her brother's attention.

"What's wrong?"

"Umm, nothing, just remembering something."

"Which was…?"

"That summer _hurt_!"

**"What is it?" I asked.**

**"Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like."**

**Oh, man, that was tempting. We were always struggling with money. Between my mom's night classes and my private school tuition, we could never afford to do special stuff like shop for a skateboard. But something in her voice bothered me.**

**"Wait a minute," I said. "I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight."**

**She twisted her dishrag. "Ah, dear, about that ... I got a message from Chiron last night."**

**My heart sank. Chiron was the activities director at Camp Half-Blood. He wouldn't contact us unless something serious was going on. "What did he say?"**

**"He thinks ... it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."**

"_**Postpone?**___**Mom, how could it not be **_**safe**_**? I'm a half-blood! It's like the only safe place on earth for me!"**

**"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having—"**

Thalia turned green while all the older demigods shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"That summer was awful!" Will moaned, and, for once, no one disagreed with him.

**"**_**What**___**problems?"**

**"Percy ... I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."**

"Ugh, I hate it when people refuse to give straight answers!" Apollo groaned into his hand. "It make me feel like an idiot!"

"You are an idiot!"

Again, cutting off an argument between the twins, Castor read on.

_**My mind was reeling. How could I not**___**go to camp? I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour.**

**My mom looked almost relieved. "Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."**

**"But—"**

**"Percy, we'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school."**

**That was the last thing I wanted to do, but my mom had this fragile look in her eyes—a kind of warning, like if I pushed her too hard she'd start to cry.**

"Awww, such a sweet boy, maybe you don't need too much more cereal to sort you out!" The goddess of the harvest smiled across the room at the boy who looked shocked as his friends tried to hide their laughter.

"Er… thank you lady Demeter."

"No problem dear, I was only speaking the truth!"

"Um, mom, could you… maybe… untie me now?"

Everyone turned to see what Katie was talking about and cracked up laughing when they saw the grass chains she was fighting.

"No, they are for your own good!"

**Besides, she was right about my friend Tyson. I had to meet him at the subway station on time or he'd get upset. He was scared of traveling underground alone.**

**I gathered up my stuff, but I stopped in the doorway. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it... could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?"**

**She wouldn't meet my eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain ... as much as I can."**

**Reluctantly, I told her good-bye. I jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.**

**I didn't know it at the time, but my mom and I would never get to have our afternoon talk. In fact, I wouldn't be seeing home for a long, long time.**

**As I stepped outside, I glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight—a human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.**

**Then it rippled and vanished.**

"Not no one seaweed brain _no body!" _Annabeth laughed, poking him in the fore head.

"Yeah, but that hadn't happened yet so I didn't know!" Percy shot back before pulling her face closer to his. Before they could kiss however, someone behind them cleared their throat and the turned to see everyone looking at them expectantly. Finally, Zeus spoke.

"You said you would explain what you had figured out earlier?"

Annabeth looked a little confused for a second, before she remembered and her face lit up. "Oh, yeah, its time!"

Again, she got a look that said that no one had a clue what she was talking about finally, she sighed and proceeded to explain her theory.

"Well, we were all shocked to see Castor because of… certain reasons, and he still thought that Thalia was a tree. Piper acts like she has known Percy ages, but I've only just met her a few days ago. Also, the whole thing about Nico being in Tartarus, if it was just from my time, it hasn't happened yet!"

"So what you are saying is…" Athena, picking up on her daughter's train of thought, began o show just as much enthusiasm as the girl.

"Yes, we are all from different time zones that happen after the night that Thalia 'died'!"

"Well, that does explain why we thought there were different time spaces between when we were taken and the battle of Manhatten!" Percy mused. "But why would they do that?"

All eyes turned to the two gods who had orchestrated the whole thing in the future, but they both shrugged.

"No idea, we haven't done it yet."

"Maybe just to make it more interesting?"

Speaking up for the first time since she got there, Hazel sat forward. "How do we discover when were from then without giving out spoilers?"

At this, the room was given over to silence as everyone tried to think of a course of action, but, before anyone else could say anything, a shrill beeping noise emanating from the sea god's throne made everyone jump.

"What on earth is that brother? An attack sensor?" Zeus looked at the rectangular device curiously for a second while Poseidon laughed.

"No, its something called a mobile phone!"

"Oh… I knew that!"

Once again, the room was filled with laughter at the King of the gods' expense until Hera spoke up.

"Who was the message from then brother? Don't you think you better check it?"

Everyone looked on intently as he flipped up the lid and glanced at the screen before paling.

"Sooo, Uncle P, who is it?"

Taking a deep breath, Poseidon looked to be trying to steady himself before he sent an apologetic look over to his son.

"My wife, she wants to come here as I am taking too long!"


	3. I Play Dodge ball with Cannibals

Before long, the queen of the seas burst through the double doors of the Olympian throne room and entered the now silent space, looking around in slight confusion at the thrones of the demigods set before those of their parents. However, she did not allow herself to be distracted and, instead, walked straight up the chair beside her husband, determining that she would get answers faster if she did not make a fuss. She was a smart woman/ fish/ thing.

"Ah, my love, I am glad you can join us, I was just about to call you myself. After my brother was allowed to summon his wife, I instantly thought of you, but, you beat me to it."

Poseidon shot her a quick smile as he tried to make his lie sound truthful, though, for the rest of the people in the room, it was all they could do to keep themselves from laughing out loud at his guilty expression. His wife on the other hand, simply rolled her eyes, but before she could open her mouth to say anything, a small hand came up and tugged on her robes. When she looked down, she was staring straight into the deep green eyes of yet another of the sea spawn.

"And who might this little guy be?"

The room was dead silent while Poseidon paled. He never knew how to react with his wife, she was too unpredictable, but she was expecting a reply and he had just proven that he could not lie to her…

"Ummm, Percy Jackson… my-"

"Son yeah, I can see the resemblance still he looks kind of cute, want to come and sit with me sweetie?"

"Yayayayayayay!"

"Okay then, up you come."

With that, Amphritie picked up the child and pulled him onto her lap, where he snuggled down quite contentedly, before turning to the dumbstruck throne room.

"So, what are we doing?"

There was a moment of awed silence before Demeter leaned forward and snatched the book out of Castors lax grip. "Reading, and I believe that it is my turn."

**"I Play Dodge ball with Cannibals,"**

"Interesting company you keep nephew, though I wouldn't recommend them of all people." Hades leaned forward, looking at Percy through the layer of blue paint that was beginning to fade away.

"Well uncle, I don't know how you can say that after you spend so much time surrounded by skeletons and the furies."

At this, all the gods and demigods cracked up, Hades however, showed good humor as he replied.

"Ah, but you see, the crucial difference there is that I control them, so it is better for all of us."

"Whatever you say uncle."

**My day started normal. Or as normal as it ever gets at Meriwether College Prep.**

**See, it's this "progressive" school in downtown Manhattan, which means we sit on beanbag chairs instead of at desks, and we don't get grades, and the teachers wear jeans and rock concert T-shirts to work.**

"… Hermes?"

"Yes dear sister?"

"Did you create that school?"

"Nope!"

"Really?"

"Athena, you insult me, do you really think that I would lie about creating such an awesome thing as that? I would have loved to create that school, but sadly, it was not my idea."

The look on the god's face as he said this had everyone in stitches in under a second. Rolling her eyes at the stupidity of some people Demeter read on.

**That's all cool with me. I mean, I'm ADHD and dyslexic, like most half-bloods, so I'd never done that great in regular schools even before they kicked me out. The only bad thing about Meriwether was that the teachers always looked on the bright side of things, and the kids weren't always ... well, bright.**

"Dang, no place for me then!" Apollo pouted at the floor, drawing incredulous looks from everyone in the room.

"Why, whatever do you mean Apollo, I believe that you would fit in _perfectly!"_ Athena 'reassured him' in a sweet voice.

**Take my first class today: English. The whole middle school had read this book called_Lord of the Flies, _where all these kids get marooned on an island and go psycho.**

"Ah, one of my favorite books!" Travis sighed happily, gaining some strange looks from the people around him. "What? I read when I feel like it!"

"I think we were more shocked about the fact that you _can _read actually sweet heart."

"Oh shut up grass girl."

"Snake head."

"Hick."

"Moron."

"Ah, just like their parents." Aphrodite giggled happily, causing the two to shut up and Demeter to hurriedly carry on reading.

**So for our final exam, our teachers sent us into the break yard to spend an hour with no adult supervision to see what would happen. What happened was a massive wedgie contest between the seventh and eighth graders, two pebble fights, and a full-tackle basketball game.**

"Sounds like my kind of place, where do I sign up?" Clarisse leaned forwards in her chair eagerly while everyone else looked at her as if she was mad. Piper finally broke the awkward silence.

"Clarisse, this is school you're talking about."

"What? Oh yeah, oops. Never mind."

**The school bully, Matt Sloan, led most of those activities.**

"Wow, so it wasn't you Perce?" Connor looked as though he was going to have a heart attack as the son of Poseidon looked affronted.

"Sometimes, its amazing how much faith you put in me!"

**Sloan wasn't big or strong, but he acted like he was. He had eyes like a pit bull, and shaggy black hair, and he always dressed in expensive but sloppy clothes, like he wanted everybody to see how little he cared about his family's money. One of his front teeth was chipped from the time he'd taken his daddy's Porsche for a joyride and run into a PLEASE SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN sign.**

"Well, doesn't he sound… pleasant." Hestia remarked bitterly whilst continuing to prod her flames, leaving everyone in shock, did the goddess of the hearth just use sarcasm?

**Anyway, Sloan was giving everybody wedgies until he made the mistake of trying it on my friend Tyson.**

At this, over half of the assembled demigods growled in unison, but having learnt already that the only answers they would get were through the book, the gods wisely chose not to interrupt.

**Tyson was the only homeless kid at Meriwether College Prep. As near as my mom and I could figure, he'd been abandoned by his parents when he was very young, probably because he was so ... different.**

Poseidon's eyes widened as he turned to look at his son.

"Is he…"

"Yeah, he is."

And, with that completely comprehensible exchange, the two fell silent leaving everyone who didn't know even more frustrated than before.

**He was six-foot-three and built like the Abominable Snowman, but he cried a lot and was scared of just about everything, including his own reflection.**

**His face was kind of misshapen and brutal-looking. I couldn't tell you what color his eyes were, because I could never make myself look higher than his crooked teeth.**

Athena gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth, refusing to meet anyone's questioning eyes while staring at the floor.

**His voice was deep, but he talked funny, like a much younger kid—I guess because he'd never gone to school before coming to Meriwether. He wore tattered jeans, grimy size-twenty sneakers, and a plaid flannel shirt with holes in it. He smelled like a New York City alleyway, because that's where he lived, in a cardboard refrigerator box off 72nd Street.**

"No matter how many times I hear this, I still can't help but feel sorry for Tyson." Annabeth sighed, wrapping her arms tighter around Percy's neck.

"Don't worry, he has it much better now!"

"I know."

**Meriwether Prep had adopted him as a community service project so all the students could feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, most of them couldn't stand Tyson. Once they discovered he was a big softie, despite his massive strength and his scary looks, they made themselves feel good by picking on him. I was pretty much his only friend, which meant he was _my _only friend.**

"And that matters… why?" Will asked, looking pointedly at Percy.

"Oh, no reason. Maybe because now, every time I run into battle, I get a strong urge to shout Peanut butter?"

At this, all the demigods privy to the joke cracked up while Nico started bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Best. War cry. Ever!"

Okay, now the gods were _really _confused but, somehow, they managed to hold in their curiosity.

**My mom had complained to the school a million times that they weren't doing enough to help him. She'd called social services, but nothing ever seemed to happen. The social workers claimed Tyson didn't exist. They swore up and down that they'd visited the alley we described and couldn't find him, though how you miss a giant kid living in a refrigerator box, I don't know.**

Annabeth sighed, snuggling closer into her boyfriend's chest as his arms tightened around her. Both of them saw Tyson as a baby brother and it hurt them to remember that he had once had to live like this.

**Anyway, Matt Sloan snuck up behind him and tried to give him a wedgie, and Tyson panicked. He swatted Sloan away a little too hard. Sloan flew fifteen feet and got tangled in the little kids' tire swing.**

"Woop, go kid!" Ares cheered, grinning widely while everyone tried to back away from the war god without him noticing.

**"You freak!" Sloan yelled. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box!"**

"Hmm, tempting, tempting. But how about we remodel your face on the way?" Annabeth's smile held such malice as she said these words that everyone looked a little scared, even Nico, but Percy only laughed.

"That's my wise girl!"

**Tyson started sobbing. He sat down on the jungle gym so hard he bent the bar, and buried his head in his hands.**

**"Take it back, Sloan!" I shouted.**

**Sloan just sneered at me. "Why do you even bother, Jackson? You might have_friends_if you weren't always sticking up for that freak."**

**I balled my fists. I hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt. "He's_not_a freak. He's just..."**

**I tried to think of the right thing to say, but Sloan wasn't listening. He and his big ugly friends were too busy laughing. I wondered if it were my imagination, or if Sloan had more goons hanging around him than usual. I was used to seeing him with two or three, but today he had like, half a dozen more, and I was pretty sure I'd never seen them before.**

"Ugh, never a good sign!" Hephaestus groaned. "Why do the monsters always hang around with the bullies?"

**"Just wait till PE, Jackson," Sloan called. "You are _so _dead."**

"Or not." Nico laughed darkly, "But you might be soon!"

**When first period ended, our English teacher, Mr. de Milo, came outside to inspect the carnage. He pronounced that we'd understood _Lord of the Flies _perfectly. We all passed his course, and we should never, never grow up to be violent people.**

"HOW is he even QUALIFIED to be a teacher?" Athena seethed in her chair as everyone tried not to meet her burning gaze.

**Matt Sloan nodded earnestly, then gave me a chip-toothed grin.**

"Why didn't you punch him." Clarisse asked, looking a little confused.

"Hmmm I don't know, maybe cause I wanted to make it through a full school year without getting expelled?"

"Oh, and how well did that turn out?" She asked him innocently. Silence, then:

"Shut it La Rue!" everyone cracked up.

**I had to promise to buy Tyson an extra peanut butter sandwich at lunch to get him to stop sobbing.**

**"I ... I am a freak?" he asked me.**

**"No," I promised, gritting my teeth. "Matt Sloan is the freak."**

"Amen to that!" Rachel cheered before she realized the looks she was getting, "Oh yeah… you guys are Greek… my bad."

**Tyson sniffled. "You are a good friend. Miss you next year if ... if I can't ..."**

**His voice trembled. I realized he didn't know if he'd be invited back next year for the community service project. I wondered if the headmaster had even bothered talking to him about it.**

**"Don't worry, big guy," I managed. "Everything's going to be fine."**

**Tyson gave me such a grateful look I felt like a big liar. How could I promise a kid like him that _anything _would be fine?**

"Ummmm." Connor pulled a face of mock concentration, "You lie?"

"Yeah, so not helping." Percy sighed, leaning back a little in his chair.

**Our next exam was science. Mrs. Tesla told us that we had to mix chemicals until we succeeded in making something explode,**

"woop, I would pass that test in 5 minutes dead!" Leo cheered while Percy just smirked.

"Sorry mate, 5 minutes is not fast enough to beat me and Tyson!"

**Tyson was my lab partner. His hands were way too big for the tiny vials we were supposed to use. He accidentally knocked a tray of chemicals off the counter and made an orange mushroom cloud in the trash can.**

"Damn. Guess I will just go back to running Leo land then."

"Yes, you do that."

**After Mrs. Tesla evacuated the lab and called the hazardous waste removal squad, she praised Tyson and me for being natural chemists. We were the first ones who'd ever aced her exam in under thirty seconds.**

**I was glad the morning went fast, because it kept me from thinking too much about my problems. I couldn't stand the idea that something might be wrong at camp. Even worse, I couldn't shake the memory of my bad dream. I had a terrible feeling that Grover was in danger.**

"Aw, so sweet, you care about the _fawn." _The roman auger sneered across the room only to get a joint response from all the campers.

"Shut up Octavian!"

**In social studies, while we were drawing latitude/longitude maps, I opened my notebook and stared at the photo inside—my friend Annabeth**

"Awwww!" Aphrodite cooed while the couple went bright red.

**on vacation in Washington, D.C. She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place.**

"Oh how I wish I had." Annabeth sighed gazing off into the distance, her eyes taking on a dreamy quality.

**See, Annabeth wants to be an architect when she grows up, so she's always visiting famous monuments and stuff. She's weird that way.**

"Excuse me?" Annabeth stated, snapping back to the room and glaring at Percy. "What did I just hear?"

"That you are the most beautiful girl in the world and that I love you more than anything?"

"Better!" The demigods all tried to hide their snickers at the exchange, but the couple didn't notice. Percy leaned down slowly and snatched Annabeth's lips in a long kiss. Quickly growing bored, Demeter read on.

**She'd e-mailed me the picture after spring break, and every once in a while I'd look at it just to remind myself she was real and Camp Half-Blood hadn't just been my imagination.**

**I wished Annabeth were here. She'd know what to make of my dream. I'd never admit it to her, but she was smarter than me,**

Yet more laughter as Percy's face darkened to a similar shade to that of a tomato.

**even if she was annoying sometimes.**

With a small hmph, Annabeth stood up and returned to her seat before turning to glare playfully at her boyfriend, making him pout.

"Aw, come back wise girl!"

"No, this is your punishment for being mean to me!"

"But Annie, please?"

"Why should I?"

"My legs are cold!" And with that last comment, the laughter returned.

**I was about to close my notebook when Matt Sloan reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings.**

Annabeth hissed at this line.

**"Hey!" I protested.**

**Sloan checked out the picture and his eyes got wide. "No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is _not _your—"**

Everybody started laughing while it looked like Athena was about to explode.

"Yes Annabeth, please tell me that you are not his…"

Laughing slightly at her mother's denial, Annabeth rose and returned to her previous perch on Percy's lap grinning at the immortal before answering.

"Sorry Mother, 'I must not tell lies!'"

Again all the demigods cracked up with the exception of Hazel and Nico.

"I don't get the joke." The son of Hades admitted, drawing shocked glances from everyone around him. Finally, Thalia leaned forwards and grabbed his neck.

"You, me, Hazel. Harry Potter Marathon, _tonight!"_

"er…Okay?"

**"Give it back!" My ears felt hot.**

**Sloan handed the photo to his ugly buddies, who snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads. They were new kids who must've been visiting, because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must've had a weird sense of humor, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human beings had names like that.**

"Wow, really human!" Travis laughed, "And you didn't figure it out at this point because…?"

**"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged, like that was supposed to scare me. "I bet they can_pay_the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."**

**"He's _not _retarded." I had to try really, really hard not to punch Sloan in the face.**

"Why does nobody punch that Jerk?" Thalia growled darkly, causing Annabeth and Percy to crack up once again.

"Because Nobody felt like it, and it had to be done!" Annabeth laughed, rocking so hard she nearly fell off of Percy's knee and everyone else groaned.

"It's that same old joke again isn't it? The hunter sighed heavily.

"Yep!"

**"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."**

**His huge buddies chewed up my photo. I wanted to pulverize them, but I was under strict orders from Chiron never to take my anger out on regular mortals, no matter how obnoxious they were. I had to save my fighting for monsters.**

**Still, part of me thought, if Sloan only knew who I really was ...**

"I would pay some good money to see that!" Dionysus remarked dryly, a small smirk stretching across is face.

**The bell rang.**

**As Tyson and I were leaving class, a girl's voice whispered, "Percy!"**

**I looked around the locker area, but nobody was paying me any attention. Like any girl at Meriwether would ever be caught dead calling my name.**

"Who did call you then?" Piper looked around Leo to them curiosity painting her face. The couple just looked at each other before replying in unison.

"Nobody!"

**Before I had time to consider whether or not I'd been imagining things, a crowd of kids rushed for the gym, carrying Tyson and me along with them. It was time for PE. Our coach had promised us a free-for-all dodge ball game, and Matt Sloan had promised to kill me.**

"Oh such a happy thought." Nico laughed, mock punching Percy's arm.

"Yeah, I know, it made my whole day!"

**The gym uniform at Meriwether is sky blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts. Fortunately, we did most of our athletic stuff inside, so we didn't have to jog through Tribeca looking like a bunch of boot-camp hippie children.**

**I changed as quickly as I could in the locker room because I didn't want to deal with Sloan. I was about to leave when Tyson called, "Percy?"**

**He hadn't changed yet. He was standing by the weight room door, clutching his gym clothes. "Will you ... uh ..."**

**"Oh. Yeah." I tried not to sound aggravated about it. "Yeah, sure, man."**

**Tyson ducked inside the weight room. I stood guard outside the door while he changed. I felt kind of awkward doing this, but he asked me to most days. I think it's because he's completely hairy and he's got weird scars on his back that I've never had the courage to ask him about.**

**Anyway, I'd learned the hard way that if people teased Tyson while he was dressing out, he'd get upset and start ripping the doors off lockers.**

"That would be cool!" Leo cheered while all the demigods that knew Tyson smiled indulgently at the floor.

**When we got into the gym, Coach Nunley was sitting at his little desk reading _Sports Illustrated. _Nunley was about a million years old, with bifocals and no teeth and a greasy wave of gray hair. He reminded me of the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood—which was a shriveled-up mummy—except Coach Nunley moved a lot less and he never billowed green smoke.**

"Gee, thanks for the amazing compliment there Perce!"

"Sorry Rachel, I was comparing him to the last Oracle!"

**Well, at least not that I'd observed.**

Again, laughter filled the throne room at the new comment from Percy's warped mind

**Matt Sloan said, "Coach, can I be captain?"**

**"Eh?" Coach Nunley looked up from his magazine. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Mm-hmm."**

**Sloan grinned and took charge of the picking. He made me the other team's captain, but it didn't matter who I picked, because all the jocks and the popular kids moved over to Sloan's side. So did the big group of visitors.**

**On my side I had Tyson, Corey Bailer the computer geek, Raj Mandali the calculus whiz, and a half dozen other kids who always got harassed by Sloan and his gang. Normally I would've been okay with just Tyson—he was worth half a team all by himself—but the visitors on Sloan's team were almost as tall and strong-looking as Tyson, and there were six of them.**

"Just brilliant." Poseidon sighed, leaning forwards slightly as he prepared himself for wht was about to come.

**Matt Sloan spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of the gym.**

**"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smell funny."**

"Aww, poor Tyson." Katie sighed. "He must be terrified."

**I looked at him. "What smells funny?" Because I didn't figure he was talking about himself.**

**"Them." Tyson pointed at Sloan's new friends. "Smell funny."**

**The visitors were cracking their knuckles, eyeing us like it was slaughter time. I couldn't help wondering where they were from. Someplace where they fed kids raw meat and beat them with sticks.**

"THIS. IS. SPARTA!" Jason jumped to his feet, raising his spear into the air causing all the other demigods to either copy him, and laugh, or fall on the floor, and laugh. The gods simply looked confused, again.

**Sloan blew the coach's whistle and the game began. Sloan's team ran for the center line. On my side, Raj Mandali yelled something in Urdu, probably "I have to go potty!" and ran for the exit. Corey Bailer tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide. The rest of my team did their best to cower in fear and not look like targets.**

"Pff, like that works." Annabeth snickered, resuming her comfy seat as everyone sat back down.

**"Tyson," I said. "Let's g—"**

**A ball slammed into my gut. I sat down hard in the middle of the gym floor. The other team exploded in laughter.**

**My eyesight was fuzzy. I felt like I'd just gotten the Heimlich maneuver from a gorilla. I couldn't believe anybody could throw that hard.**

"And you still didn't realize that they were monsters? I gotta admit cuz, you're losing your touch!" Thalia snickered while Percy glared at the floor.

**Tyson yelled, "Percy, duck!"**

**I rolled as another dodge ball whistled past my ear at the speed of sound.**

**_Whooom!_**

**It hit the wall mat, and Corey Bailer yelped.**

**"Hey!" I yelled at Sloan's team. "You could kill somebody!"**

"Um, Perce, I think that was the whole idea."

"yeah Rachel, I got that, thanks."

**The visitor named Joe Bob grinned at me evilly. Somehow, he looked a lot bigger now ... even taller than Tyson. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt. "I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"**

"Ohh! He used your full name. Someone's in troooouble!" Nico laughed, thoroughly enjoying this.

**The way he said my name sent a chill down my back. Nobody called me Perseus except those who knew my true identity. Friends ... and enemies.**

"And now the light bulb flicks on." Annabeth teased, ruffling his hair.

**What had Tyson said?_They smell funny._**

**Monsters.**

"Well nooooo, I thought they were pixies!" Frank sighed dramatically, earning himself some laughs.

**All around Matt Sloan, the visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.**

**Matt Sloan dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who …"**

**The other kids on his team started screaming and backing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past Raj Mandali just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. Raj and some of the other kids banged on it desperately but it wouldn't budge.**

**"Let them go!" I yelled at the giants.**

**The one called Joe Bob growled at me. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said_: JBluvs Babycakes._"And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"**

"Yay, enter the Canadians!" Annabeth laughed out loud, setting everyone else off again, though the tension in the air remained thick and stifling.

**He waved his hand and a new batch of dodge balls appeared on the center line—but these balls weren't made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like riffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.**

**"Coach!" I yelled.**

**Nunley looked up sleepily, but if he saw anything abnormal about the dodgeball game, he didn't let on. That's the problem with mortals. A magical force called the Mist obscures the true appearance of monsters and gods from their vision, so mortals tend to see only what they can understand. Maybe the coach saw a few eighth graders pounding the younger kids like usual. Maybe the other kids saw Matt Sloan's thugs getting ready to toss Molotov cock tails around. (It wouldn't have been the first time.) At any rate, I was pretty sure nobody else realized we were dealing with genuine man-eating bloodthirsty monsters.**

**"Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach muttered. "Play nice."**

"Moronic _male!" _Artemis hissed, her eyes flashing with anger.

And he went back to his magazine.

**The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. I dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past my shoulder.**

**"Corey!" I screamed.**

**Tyson pulled him out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.**

"Not a moment too soon then." Will sighed, "I would have hated to see the result if he hadn't made it out in time."

**"Run!" I told my teammates. "The other exit!"**

**They ran for the locker room, but with another wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut.**

**"No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"**

**He launched his own fireball. My teammates scattered as it blasted a crater in the gym floor.**

"And the mortal still doesn't notice a thing?." Nico asked incredulously. Percy shook his head. "Wow, the mist must be really strong there!"

**I reached for Riptide, which I always kept in my pocket, but then I realized I was wearing gym shorts.**

Everybody groaned an Poseidon made a sound that was suspiciously close to a whimper.

**I _had _no pockets. Riptide was tucked in my jeans inside my gym locker. And the locker room door was sealed. I was completely defenseless.**

"Well, this is going to be fun." Thalia groaned, she didn't like where this was going.

**Another fireball came streaking toward me. Tyson pushed me out of the way, but the explosion still blew me head over heels. I found myself sprawled on the gym floor, dazed from smoke, my tie-dyed T-shirt peppered with sizzling holes. Just across the center line, two hungry giants were glaring down at me.**

**"Flesh!" they bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They both took aim.**

**"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled, and he jumped in front of me just as they threw their balls.**

**"Tyson!" I screamed, but it was too late.**

At this, Annabeth cracked up laughing. "Don't think you are getting rid of him that easily Perce, Tyson's still got a part to play yet!"

Nico nodded along with her, "Yeah, a big one too!"

**Both balls slammed into him ... but no ... he'd caught them. Somehow Tyson, who was so clumsy he knocked over lab equipment and broke playground structures on a regular basis, had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour.**

"Whoooop, go Tyson!" Travis cheered, high-fiving his brother enthusiastically.

**He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests.**

**The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame—a sure sign they were monsters, all right. Monsters don't die. They just dissipate into smoke and dust, which saves heroes a lot of trouble cleaning up after a fight.**

**"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed. He flexed his muscles and his_Babycakes_tattoo rippled. "You will pay for their destruction!"**

"Okay, now you just made him mad." Clarisse observed dryly, leaning forwards in her chair so as not to miss a single word of the fight.

**"Tyson!" I said. "Look out!"**

**Another comet hurtled toward us. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over Coach Nunley's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge KA-BOOM!**

"Still doesn't notice." Thalia laughed, shaking her head disbelievingly.

**Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters in the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help. Sloan himself stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.**

"Bet that knocked him down a peg or two." Nico snickered darkly.

**Coach Nunley still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine.**

**Surely the whole school could hear the noise. The head master, the police, somebody would come help us.**

Thalia scoffed, "yeah, sure, like that's _ever _going to happen!"

**"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!"**

"No thanks, I don't think I taste too good!" Percy smirked slightly as his spoke to which Nico span round.

"Really?"

"Yup, I taste aw- hey, dude, did you just _lick_ me?"

"Yep, and you were right, you taste like salt Perce."

"… Thanks."

**I wanted to tell him he was taking the dodge ball game way too seriously, but before I could, he hefted another ball. The other three giants followed his lead.**

**I knew we were dead. Tyson couldn't deflect all those balls at once. His hands_had_to be seriously burned from blocking the first volley. Without my sword ...**

**I had a crazy idea.**

"As always." Annabeth sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

**I ran toward the locker room.**

**"Move!" I told my teammates. "Away from the door."**

**Explosions behind me. Tyson had batted two of the balls back toward their owners and blasted them to ashes.**

**That left two giants still standing.**

**A third ball hurtled straight at me. I forced myself to wait—one Mississippi, two Mississippi—then dove aside as the fiery sphere demolished the locker room door.**

"I guess that was an okay plan… right Mom?" After a few moments with no reply, Annabeth looked up in confusion. "Where's my mom?"

Poseidon smiled dryly, "Oh, it doesn't matter really, we just moved her so that she didn't start world war three in this room because of your little… confession earlier."

Annabeth went bright red and hid her face back in Percy's shirt. Well, that was awkward!

**Now, I figured that the built-up gas in most boys' locker rooms was enough to cause an explosion, so I wasn't surprised when the flaming dodge ball ignited a huge _WHOOOOOOOM!_**

**The wall blew apart. Locker doors, socks, athletic supporters, and other various nasty personal belongings rained all over the gym.**

"Gross." Rachel and piper winced at the mental picture while the guys all laughed.

**I turned just in time to see Tyson punch Skull Eater in the face. The giant crumpled. But the last giant, Joe Bob, had wisely held on to his own ball, waiting for an opportunity. He threw just as Tyson was turning to face him.**

**"No!" I yelled.**

**The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. I didn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.**

The room fell silent at this as all the demigods held their breath, waiting to see what would happen to their friend.

**"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!"**

**He picked up another ball and aimed it at Tyson.**

**"Stop!" I yelled. "It's me you want!"**

"Not again Perce!" Thalia groaned, "Why do you always try and sacrifice yourself for other people?"

"So says the girl who was turned into a pine tree whilst sacrificing herself to let Luke and Annabeth cross the boundary line?"

"… Touché!"

**The giant grinned. "You wish to die first, young hero?"**

**I had to do something. Riptide had to be around here somewhere.**

**Then I spotted my jeans in a smoking heap of clothes right by the giant's feet. If I could only get there... I knew it was hopeless, but I charged.**

Everyone in the room groaned.

**The giant laughed. "My lunch approaches." He raised his arm to throw. I braced myself to die.**

Yet more silence filled the room as this time, even the gods forgot to breath, including Demeter until she remembered that she was supposed to be reading.

**Suddenly the giant's body went rigid. His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should've been, his T-shirt ripped open and he grew something like a horn—no, not a horn—the glowing tip of a blade.**

"Ah, the arrival of nobody!" Percy laughed, Pulling Annabeth tighter to him.

**The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knife that had just run him through from behind.**

"Ohh." Everybody said and looked at Annabeth.

"You're nobody?" Thalia looked at Annabeth in sudden realization until the daughter of Athena grinned.

"Nope, I'm somebody, not nobody as nobody is the one who is nobody and somebody isn't nobody!"

Thalia closed her eyes and groaned, "Why did I even ask?"

**He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame, which I figured was going to make Babycakes pretty upset.**

**Standing in the smoke was my friend Annabeth. Her face was grimy and scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.**

Annabeth shuddered, "Spirits, about the only thing I _didn't _have to fight on my way there!"

**Matt Sloan, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at Annabeth, as if he dimly recognized her from my notebook picture. "That's the girl ... That's the girl—"**

"Wow, somebody can tell the difference between boys and girls, let's give him a prize!" Nico laughed as Percy grinned evily.

**Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat.**

For a second, Demeter was cut off by the deafening sound of cheering that came from both sides of the throne room. Finally!

**"And _you,"_she told him, "lay off my friend."**

Now the cheers were replaced by laughter as Annabeth blushed bright red.

**The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.**

"Oh, so _now _the teachers arrive." Hazel rolled her eyes.

**"Annabeth ..." I stammered. "How did you ... how long have you ..."**

**"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."**

**"The shadow I saw this morning—that was—" My face felt hot. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bed room window?"**

Now the laughter was interspersed with wolf whistles as Nico cheered,

"See, I am NOT a stalker!"

"Dude, you just licked me a few minutes ago!"

"Your point being…?"

**"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to—"**

**"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.**

**"Meet me outside," Annabeth told me. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn't quite understand. "You'd better bring him."**

**_"What?"_**

**"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"**

**She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, and instantly vanished.**

**That left me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty and a couple of police officers.**

"Oh the joys of the after math!" Thalia sighed. "This is going to be interesting."

**"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What ... how ..."**

**Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. "Head hurts."**

**Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on me with a look of terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"**

"Maybe my right hook was too subtle." Annabeth mused, a dark look that even Hades would be proud of, flashed across her face.

**Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but just my luck—he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name. "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."**

"I swear that guy's a vash danarada!" Travis shuddered making everyone else laugh (**A/N: sorry, couldn't resist.)**

**The other adults turned toward me. I knew they would never believe me, even if I could tell them the truth.**

**I grabbed Riptide out of my ruined jeans, told Tyson, "Come on!" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.**

"And that's the end of the chapter!" Demeter stated, snapping the book closed. "What now?"

The queen of the seas raised her hand, "I have a question."

Zeus looked bored, but he waved his hand allowing his brother to answer her question.

"Yes my love?"

"If I have the hero of the book on my knee, why is he sat over there as well?"

"That is very good question, the one you hold now is from the present time period while the one over there is from the fu-"

"Not what I was talking about." Amphritie gestured with her free arm over to Percy. "Come and give your step mother a hug boy!"

Percy went pale as the room feel silent. Well, this was awkward!


	4. We Hail the Taxi of Eternal Torment

The whole room was silent while, unbeknownst to the others, the Lord of the sea dn his son were having a mental conversation.

"_Is she planning something?"_

"_Not that I know of!"_

"_Then why does she want me to _hug _her?"_

"… _Um… I think she has a weakness for cute things and she likes the baby you!"_

"_Er… Is there any way for me to get out of this?"_

"_Not without starting a fight."_

"_But daaaaad…."_

"_No, just go give you step mother a hug Percy!"_

"_Fine!"_

To everyone's surprise, the prince of the sea then rose to his feet, (after prodding his girlfriend off first) and walked over to the sea before being pulled into a bear hug and laced onto her knee. After a while of his friends' snickering behind their hands, Percy began to feel uncomfortable.

"Um… Lady Amphrite-"

"Call me Mother!"

"Um… Okay, er _mother?"_

"Yes Percy?"

"Could I go back to my seat now please?"

"No, I still want my hug!"

As Percy's face fell, the boy's cousins cracked up laughing at his misfortune until Percy grinned evily.

"You know Thalia, Nico, why don't you go give your step mothers a hug, they are both here!"

At that, Nico's face paled and he hastily grabbed the book from Demeter before replying. "Well Perce, I would love to, but I just so happen to be reading right now!" And with that, to make sure that there were no other comments on the matter, he did actually begin to read.

"**We Hail the Taxi of Eternal Torment**,"

"Well, that sounds like a fun journey!" Leo joked gaining him some strange looks and a whisper of "masochist" from a person who shall remain nameless. Thankfully, no one else decided to comment on his statement.

**Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street. She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.**

"Wow, you get on the news for two major crimes in two years Perce, I'm impressed!"

"Thanks Travis, I appreciate it when people respect the many hardships in my life!"

"No problem!"

"I was being-"

"Sarcastic, I know.

**"Where'd you find _him_?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.**

"Well that wasn't polite Annabeth!" Hestia scolded while the girl in question looked down at the floor embarrassed.

**Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see her. We'd made our peace last summer, despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn't get along with my dad. I'd missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit.**

Annabeth grinned at this as a chorus of wolf whistles did a round in the room.

**But I'd just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson had saved my life three or four times, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like _he _was the problem.**

"Yes Annabeth, where is your perspective on things?" Thalia joked, poking her in the side as the daughter of Athena tried to hide in her chair.

**"He's my friend," I told her.**

**"Is he homeless?"**

"Well no Annie, he lives in a mansion, can't you tell that by looking at his clothes?"

"Oh Shut up Trav-" She started, only to be cut off by a triumphant woop coming from the boy. "What now Stoll?"

"I just remembered the second part of the promise I made with Connor about the whole Katie incident!"

At this, everyone just looked confused apart from Connor who paled and their father who looked intrigued.

"Oooh, go on son, do tell!"

"No, please don't!"

Their pleading was cut off by Travis cracking up. "Sorry bro, but a deal is a deal. You said that 'if ever you tell anyone about the way I asked out Katie, I could tell everyone about the time you got rejected by Loki Williams from the Hecate cabin'!"

At this, all the demigods cracked up, but it got some strange looks from the gods, finally, Zeus spoke up.

"What do you mean Hecate cabin?"

At this, everyone fell silent as Nico continued reading.

**"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"**

**She looked surprised. "He can talk?"**

**"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."**

Laughter filled the room once again as Annabeth went pink.

"Wow Perce, I think you have some competition there!" Will joked while Percy just shook his head good naturedly.

"Nah, the guy would never leave his peanut butter, not even for Annabeth."

"Thanks Percy, you make me feel _so _special!"

"Well, what can I say, I aim to please!"

**"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.**

**I couldn't believe she was being so rude. I examined Tyson's hands, which I was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine—grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips—but they always looked like that. "Tyson," I said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."**

**"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."**

Clarisse shook her head. "Have we ever told you that you are awful at explaining things?"

"No, Why?"

"Well, we should!"

**Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth's blond hair. He tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand away.**

**"Annabeth," I said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"**

**"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."**

**"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"**

**She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided.**

As everyone else cracked up, Frank leaned forward to glare at her playfully. "I take offence to that!"

"Oops, should I say… um… well, I don't see how that can be more insulting than the fact that you come from the same country as Justin Beiber!"

"… Don't remind me!"

**"Now come on, we have to get out of here."**

**"The police'll be after me."**

**"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"**

"Ahhh, she wants to know if you have been dreaming about her, soooooo sweet!"

"Um, I didn't mean those kind of dreams Lady Aphrodite!"

"I know, but I can hope right?"

**"The dreams ... about Grover?"**

**Her face turned pale. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"**

**I told her my dream. "Why? What were _you _dreaming about?"**

**Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.**

**"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."**

Thalia shuddered at this. "That was NOT a good experience for me!" Around her, the older demigods shot the hunter looks of pity which seemed to confuse the gods even more.

**"My mom was saying the same thing! But what _kind _of trouble?"**

It was now Clarisse's turn to shudder. "You're asking her what's wrong? It would have been a shorter answer if you asked her what good things were happening at camp that summer!"

**"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?"**

**I shook my head. "None all year ... until today."**

**"None? But how ..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."**

**"What do you mean, 'oh'?"**

"I can understand how that could be annoying, I hate it when people don't tell me things!" Demeter complained, slouching in her throne.

**Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?"**

**Annabeth and I exchanged looks.**

**I didn't know how I could explain, but I figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.**

**"Big guy," I said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—"**

"Woop, he mentioned me! YESS!" Zeus cheered, fist pumping the air, something that everyone else decided to ignore. The Olympians had grown used to having a loonatic for a ruler a loooooong time ago.

**"Yes," Tyson said.**

**"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries_,_so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."**

"Um, I think he already knows that Perce, you're just wasting time!" Nico commented, grinning at where Percy was being restrained by his step-mothers arm that was wrapped around his shoulders.

"Yeah, thanks Nikki, but I think I already know that!"

**"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for me to get to the point.**

**"Uh, well, Annabeth and I are half-bloods," I said. "We're like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."**

**"Yes."**

**I stared at him. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what I was telling him, which surprised and confused me.**

Thalia snorted. "Why would he be confused you idiot, he's your brother!"

At this, there was a collective gasp from the Olympians as everyone else figured out the identity of Tyson. Well, it was about time!

**"So ... you believe me?"**

**Tyson nodded. "But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"**

**"Yeah," I admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."**

**Tyson frowned. _Now_ he looked confused. "But then …"**

"You're brothers!" Rachel called happily, finishing of his statement for him.

**A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.**

**"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said. "We'll talk in the taxi."**

**"A taxi all the way to camp?" I said. "You know how much money—"**

**"Trust me."**

**I hesitated. "What about Tyson?"**

**I imagined escorting my giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us.**

"Why do the Police always get in the way? They are so annoying!" Hermes whined while his sons nodded their agreement.

**"We can't just leave him," I decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."**

**"Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."**

**I didn't like the way she said that, as if Tyson were a big disease we needed to get to the hospital, but I followed her down the alley. Together the three of us sneaked through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind us from my school gymnasium.**

"I still think that sounds like something Leo would do!" Piper piped up. **(A/N: again, couldn't resist. –hides behind desk- forgive me?) **While Leo cheered. Jason on the other hand, just groaned.

"What is wrong with this family? We have Nico, they pysico stalker, Thalia who was a _tree, _Percy who can talk to Zebras and now Leo the suicide bomber?"

"Says the guy who jumped off of the viewing deck at the grand canyon?"

"You're just further proving my point there sis!"

**"Here." Annabeth stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."**

**She looked even worse than I'd realized at first.**

"Gee, thanks!" Annabeth shot a mock glare across the room at him while he shrugged, grinning.

**Her chin was cut. Twigs and grass were tangled in her ponytail, as if she'd slept several nights in the open. The slashes on the hems of her jeans looked suspiciously like claw marks.**

Annabeth winced. "Yep. They were claw marks alright!"

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

**All around us, sirens wailed. I figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals.**

"Ignorant _male _he would be far better as a deer for me to hunt!" There was a sound of scraping on Olympus as everyone attempted to move away from the enraged goddess of the moon.

**"Found one. Thank the gods." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that I recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.**

**"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."**

**"_Stêthi_," she shouted in Ancient Greek._"Ô hárma diabolês!"_**

**As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it. She'd said: _Stop, Chariot of Damnation!_**

"Well, this should be fun!" Ares chuckled darkly.

**That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.**

**She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.**

**For a moment, nothing happened.**

**Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.**

"It always amazes me just how much the mortals can ignore!" Katie muttered, still fighting with her grass bonds before she remembered to add, "No offence Rachel, I didn't mean you!"

"Meh, none taken, it amazes me as well!"

**It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was _woven _out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door—something like GYAR SSIRES—but my dyslexia made it hard for me to decipher what it said.**

"Gray Sisters." Poseidon groaned. "Of all the people you could have called upon Annabeth, why them?"

"Well, Lord Poseidon, I didn't really have much choice, we didn't have any mortal money, but we needed to get to camp fast!"

**The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain.**

**"Passage? Passage?"**

**"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.**

**"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take _his _kind!"**

"Again, I feel sorry for Tyson." Thalia sighed.

**She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.**

**What was it? Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?**

"We really need to make one of those!" Travis mumbled to himself, a strange light flashing in his eyes that instantly made all the Greek demigods uncomfortable. They all knew that look, and it never foretold anything good.

**"Extra pay," Annabeth promised. "Three more drachma on arrival."**

**"Done!" the woman screamed.**

**Reluctantly I got in the cab. Tyson squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last.**

**The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy—no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.**

"They really need a makeover!" Aphrodite shuddered delicately, "They sound disgusting!"

**The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"**

**She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker:_Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!_**

More laughter filled the throne room at this.

**I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate ... yet.**

Nico winced, "You should be glad you didn't, those things are far more painful than they are worth!"

"And you know this… how?" Thalia questioned him as his cheeks went bright red.

" I-I think I'm going to read on now!"

**The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"**

**"Well, _if _you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could _see _that!" the driver complained.**

**Wait a minute._Give her the eye?_**

Piper's eyes widen. "That's it, I am ever going anywhere with them."

**I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming _delivery _truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling _thump,_and flew into the next block.**

**"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."**

**"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"**

**"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.**

**The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"**

**"Brake!" yelled Anger.**

**Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.**

**"Excuse me," I said. "But ... can you see?"**

**"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.**

Eyes widened in surprise as Jason gasped "But isn't she the one driving?"

**"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.**

Mouths fell open, "Okay, there have to be laws against that!" The son of Jupiter continued.

**"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.**

"But what's the point of her having the eye when Wasp is driving?" Athena exclaimed, making everyone else jump, no one had noticed her return. "Those three really need to learn some common sense!"

**I looked at Annabeth. "They're blind?"**

**"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."**

"Well that makes everything better!" Nico rolled his eyes before continuing.

**"One eye?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Each?"**

**"No. One eye total."**

**Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."**

**"Oh, man," I said, because I'd seen Tyson get carsick on school field trips and it was_not_something you wanted to be within fifty feet of. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"**

Everyone had to cover their ears to protect them from the squeal of disgust from the love goddess at this point.

**The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay me any attention. I looked over at Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a_why-did-you-do-this-to-me _look.**

**"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."**

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter if you end arrive at camp as ghosts." Castor shook his head as he spoke, making everyone laugh, but the tense atmosphere still remained.

**"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"**

**"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."**

**"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"**

Jason shrugged, "Don't look at me, I wouldn't enter that thing if my life depended on it!"

**"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"**

**"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.**

**"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"**

**"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"**

**"But I'm driving, you old hag!"**

The Stroll laughed. "They sound like the Aphrodite cabin when they are fighting for mirrors in the morning!" Travis laughed while Piper just sighed.

"Sadly, that isn't even an exaggeration, it can get pretty brutal in there sometimes!"

**"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"**

**Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing me between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.**

**The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.**

All the goddesses in the room shivered at the mental picture, they couldn't imagine that that had been in any way pleasant.

**Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"**

**Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.**

**"Uh, if anybody's interested," I said, "We're going to die!"**

"Um..." Clarisse hummed, pretending to think, "Nope, I don't think anybody is interested Prissy, just you!"

**"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."**

**This was coming from the daughter of Athena, but I wasn't exactly reassured.**

**We were skimming along the edge of a bridge a hundred and thirty feet above the East River.**

**"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"**

**"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"**

**"The location you seek!" Tempest added.**

"Um, I think even the sea spawn knows where camp is." Athena sighed. Trying not to laugh, Annabeth corrected her.

"Not camp, Mom, somewhere else!"

"Where?"

"Spoilers!" She placed a finger to her lips in an impression of River Song, making everyone who knew what it meant laugh, for all the others however, well, they all just looked confused, but then, that was fast becoming the norm in this room.

**Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"**

**"What?" I said. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"**

**"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"**

**"Tell me."**

**"No!" they all screamed.**

**"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.**

**"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.**

**"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"**

Nico laughed, "I think all they managed to do there was make him even more interested in what they had mentioned!"

**"No!" yelled Anger.**

**"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"**

**She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening_pop_and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into my lap.**

Everyone shivered at this, but can you blame them? That would really be gross!

**I jumped so hard, my head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.**

**"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.**

**"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.**

**"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.**

**"I don't have it!" I said.**

**"There, by your foot," Annabeth said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"**

"No Percy, don't step on the eyeball, you will mess up the whole cab!" Connor stated in a falsetto voice, making everyone laugh.

**"I'm not picking that up!"**

**The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.**

**"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.**

**"Annabeth," I yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"**

**"Are you crazy? Get the eye!"**

**Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.**

**At last I steeled my nerves. I ripped off a chunk of my tie-dyed T-shirt, which was already falling apart from all the burn marks, and used it to pick the eyeball off the floor.**

Aphrodite looked like she was about to be sick, but whether it was about the eyeball or the mention of the unfashionable clothing, no one knew.

**"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"**

**"Not until you explain," I told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"**

**"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"**

Again, everyone shivered and no one even dared to interrupt now, the tension was too high.

**I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.**

**"Percy," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."**

**"First they have to tell me," I said. "Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."**

"Idiot boy, that would be the best way to get all of you killed!" Annabeth growled, though her amusement at seeing Percy babied by the queen of the seas seemed to take the bite out of her anger somewhat.

**"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"**

**"I'm rolling down the window."**

**"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!"**

Leo sighed and pretended to wipe the sweat from his forehead, "Well, I am _so _glad that that is all cleared up!

**They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.**

**"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"**

**"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"**

**We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero.**

**"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Give them the eye now!"**

**I decided not to argue. I threw the eye into Wasp's lap.**

**The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"**

**She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.**

**Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."**

The room was once again filled with laughter at the antics of Tyson.

**"All right," I told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."**

**"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out_now."_**

**I was about to ask why, when I looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood.**

**At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.**

"Alright, that's the end of the chapter!" Nico sighed, putting the book down on his armrest. "Who's going to read net then? Any volunteers?"

Before, however, anyone could raise their hands, another flash appeared in the middle of the throne room, casting the silhouette of two new arrival upon the floor.

* * *

**A/N: there we go, sorry for the late update, but I have a ton of exams to study for. I hate being in my final year of comp, but at least I get a 10 week summer holiday, WHOOO! Anyway, I did put this here for a reason and not just to be weird. I am taking suggestions as to who the new arrivals are, so, if you want someone to arrive, just leave their name in a review! Thanks so much for reading!**

**~Ella~**


	5. Tyson Plays with Fire

**A/N: Okay, I know I have been gone for a really **_**really **_**long time, but, at last, here is the Chapter! And the Poll results (excluding the winners) are: I'm not telling, but, there were some REALLY good ideas that I am going to make use of, I love all you guys who reviewed! Anyway, for those who were wondering, no I am not going to abandon this story for… various reason, but my life takes president so it may take a while for me to upload, sorry. Here is the Chapter for you!**

* * *

"See, told you I could do it!"

"You are just insufferable, you know that?"

The whole throne room was silent as everyone stared in awe at the two figures before them, one being a tall- ish man in a bowtie and blazer, and the other being a young woman with long brown hair and doe bright eyes. Although they appeared to be bickering when the fog first cleared, as soon as the new arrivals noticed the fact that everyone was staring at them, they fell silent. Well, almost.

"Clara… somehow, I don't think that this is Las Vegas…"

At this, the girl, Clara, turned to slap him on the top of the head while the gods and their children looked in bemusement.

"What gave that away then, the fact that we seem to be in some sort of council meeting, or the fact that there are no casinos around here?"

As she spat the last few words out, a wicked gleam appeared in Hermes' eye and everyone suddenly found themselves in the foyer of the Lotus Flower Hotel, the sudden onslaught of noise and bright lights making the two in the middle of the circle jump a mile then stare around themselves in wonder.

"Um… Clara?"

"Yes Doctor?"

"I think I may have got the co0ordinates wrong again…"

"Should we run then?"

"Oh yes, love the running!"

After that, the duo sprinted out of the tight circle, leaving everyone in the council at a loss for words. Eventually, Zeus decided to return everyone to the throne room as he noticed some of the Demigods beginning to grow transfixed by their dangerous surroundings. However, before he could talk about the bizarre occurrence yet another note appeared out of thin hair and drifted down to nestle into the lord of the sky's hair. Looking a little disgruntled, he snatched the parchment off of his head and began to read.

_Dear all, _

_Sorry about that last mix up, it seemed like someone managed to interfere with out time channel that we are using to transport the demigods, however, we believe that the problem should not happen again. So without further ado, we will send the new arrivals… Good Luck!_

_From Hermes and Apollo, the awesomest gods around!_

_P.S: Please send back Will, Piper and Clarisse, there seems to be a mini war about to start at camp about the chariot again…_

No sooner had the king of the gods finished speaking, than the room was flooded with a violet light that blinded everyone for the next few moments, but, by the time it had died down, there were two less chairs and a Satyr sitting in the middle of the throne room, chewing on a crochet mallet. Two more seconds passed when…

"G-Man!"

"Perrrrcy!"

"That damned Satyr ag…. THALIA!"

"Go to Hades dad."

"Oh yes, please do brother…"

"DAD… that sounded so WRONG!"

"Really did not need that image in my head death breath!"

"Oh, grow up Kelp head!"

"What was that Pinecone face?"

"QUIET!"

As one, everyone in the room fell silent and turned to stare at the fuming goddess of the hearth who was glaring around the room as though daring someone to disobey her. When Hestia was finally satisfied that no one was going to start arguing again, her face returned to that of an innocent 8 year old girls as she skipped across the room to take the book from Nico where it lay discarded on his arm rest as Grover took his new throne with the demigods.

"Do you mind if I read now nephew?"

"N-no, o-of curse not Lady H-hestia."

With a satisfied smirk, the goddess folded herself onto the floor and began to read, forcing the others to listen.

**"Tyson Plays with Fire,"**

At the sound of the young Cyclops's name, Grover frowned and began to look around the throne room worriedly, catching on, Percy turned to him looking confused.

"What's the matter Goat boy?"

"Um… nothing much, I thought that Tyson was being sent ba- Pan almighty Percy, why are you sat on Amphitrite's lap?"

This got the demigods laughing again, and it was with a bright red face that the prince of the seas practically begged Hestia to continue reading.

**Mythologically speaking, if there's anything I hate worse than trios of old ladies, it's bulls.**

"Way to share the love Perce!"

"Stoll…"

"Shutting up."

**Last summer, I fought the Minotaur on top of Half-Blood Hill. This time what I saw up there was even worse: two bulls. And not just regular bulls—bronze ones the size of elephants. And even that wasn't bad enough. Naturally they had to breathe fire, too.**

"That. Is. AWESOM… Annabeth can we…?"

"No Leo, you can't have one, those things are far more trouble than they're worth!"

"But Mooooom."

"I said NO Leo, and I AM NOT YOUR MOM!"

At this, the whole room cracked up again as the goddess simply shook her head and continued to read.

**As soon as we exited the taxi, the Gray Sisters peeled out, heading back to New York, where life was safer. They didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment.**

At this, the two sons of Hermes shared a look that sent a shiver down everyone's spine as they turned with pouting faces back to the daughter of Athena.

"Annie…"

"NO!... And don't call me Annie!"

"But you don't even know what we were going to ask."

"I know you Travis, isn't that enough?"

Silence then followed while the two boys glared at the floor in defeat while the gods appeared to be holding back their laughter.

**They just left us on the side of the road, Annabeth with nothing but her backpack and knife, Tyson and me still in our burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes.**

Aphrodite shivered again, but thankfully, she refrained from commenting on the _horrendous _clothing choices of the school.

**"Oh, man," said Annabeth, looking at the battle raging on the hill.**

**What worried me most weren't the bulls themselves. Or the ten heroes in full battle armor who were getting their bronze-plated booties whooped. What worried me was that the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the pine tree.**

There was a beat of dead silence as this fact sank in and, hoping to make the most of the opportunity, Percy attempted to duck under his stepmother's arm and return to his seat, only to be grabbed again before he took two steps and pulled back onto her lap. It was the boy's muttered response of 'damn' that appeared to break the spell as everyone started laughing at his antics.

**That shouldn't have been possible. The camp's magic boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree.**

And, once again, the silence gained control while Zeus seemed torn between snuggling up to his master bolt, and shooting looks at his daughter to calm himself. If the tension in the room had been any lighter, there surely have been laughter t this, but, given the current circumstances, Hermes barely had the heart to snap a picture before returning his gaze to his aunt.

**But the metal bulls were doing it anyway.**

**One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice—gruff and familiar. Border patrol? I thought. The camp didn't have a border patrol.**

"Until that summer. Gods, that was aweful!" Katie winced at the memory as all the older demigods shared looks and shuddered. Yes, that summer had been terrible.

**"It's Clarisse," Annabeth said.**

Ares' face lit up with pride for his daughter.

**"Come on, we have to help her."**

The look was soon replaced by a snarl, not that anyone seemed to notice…

**Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on my "to do" list. She was one of the biggest bullies at camp. The first time we'd met she tried to introduce my head to a toilet.**

There were a few muffled sniggers at this, but the glare from the war god kept everyone in check while Hestia read on.

**She was also a daughter of Ares, and I'd had a very serious disagreement with her father last summer, so now the god of war and all his children basically hated my guts.**

Hazel sighed dramatically before turning to the boy who was now trying to dodge the damp handkerchief being dabbed on his face.

"Percy… can you name a _single _person that doesn't hate you?"

The sea prince stopped dodging when he heard his name being called only to be smothered by the cloth. When he resurfaced, he grinned across at the daughter of Pluto.

"Oh sure, there's… er… there's… um… wait, don't tell me… Annabeth!" He had to dodge the cloth again and he grimaced across at his cousin. "And my step-mom I guess… help?"

The roman just smirked and motioned for the goddess to continue whil everyone else laughed.

**Still, she was in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horse hair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk.**

Everyone managed to laugh, even with Ares glaring holes in the floor... literally.

**Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.**

"Good quality…" The god of the forges mused, drawing the stress of all the assembly. "What? It's true!"

Leo sighed a little and shook his head. "Dad… You have now entered Leo's Kingdom, please feel free to purchase a souvenir."

There was the sound of scraping as people moved their chairs away from the crazy duo.

**I uncapped my ballpoint pen. It shimmered, growing longer and heavier until I held the bronze sword Anaklusmos in my hands. "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."**

A series of 'Awww's came from the goddesses at this, apart from Athena who simply muttered "Idiot" and continued to glare at her daughter's boyfriend.

**"No!" Annabeth said. "We need him."**

**I stared at her. "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—"**

"Percy, Percy, Percy." Thalia sighed, shaking her head slowly with a mocking lilt to her words. "How long until you learn that Annabeth is always right?"

The son of Poseidon looked as though he was going to respond with something rude when his step mother tapped him on the head… hard.

"Ouch, what the Hades was that for?"

"Language son."

"Yes, please stop using my name for a cuss word!"

The young son of the sea slouched a little where he was sitting, muttering something about everyone ganging up on him while the others continued their laughter.

**"Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself.**

The mentioned god grinned wickedly and everyone else moved a couple more feet away from him.

**We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp."**

**"Medea's what?"**

**Annabeth rummaged through her backpack and cursed. "I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my night-stand at home. Why didn't I bring it?"**

"Wouldn't the better question be, why do you have that in the first place?" Frank asked, looking a little surprised when the girl flinched before grinning back at him.

"Obviously you have never met these two." She jerked her thumb towards the Stolls who currently had their heads pressed together, muttering in a hurried way, finally breaking apart when they noticed everyone was staring at them.

"We're innocent!" They said in perfect unison, holding their hands up in defeat as Nico snorted.

"Yeah right. Stick with the conversation guys!"

**I'd learned a long time ago not to question Annabeth too much. It just made me more confused. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not going to let Tyson get fried."**

Poseidon shook his head. "As much as I admire your bravery Percy, your loyalty is going to kill you someday!"

The room went quiet as all the demigods tried not to look at anything in particular. Trying to break the awkward silence, Hestia quickly read on.

**"Percy—"**

**"Tyson, stay back." I raised my sword. "I'm going in."**

**Tyson tried to protest, but I was already running up the hill toward Clarisse, who was yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation.**

"Not very conventional… but, with only a small number of soldiers against an enemy with superior strength…" After 5 minutes of this, everyone turned their attention away from the muttering war god and back to the book, deciding that it wasn't worth asking.

**It was a good idea. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide—and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.**

**Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire.**

"Wow… just… wow." Jason shook his head chuckling slightly.

**Annabeth ran toward them, trying to help. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. The other bull charged Clarisse's line.**

The room was once again silent, even Ares left of his muttering in favor of checking his daughter's fate.

**I was halfway up the hill—not close enough to help. Clarisse hadn't even seen me yet.**

**The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.**

**"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors.**

**Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave.**

Ares' face shone with pride once again at this as Reyna sighed grudgingly.

"Fine, we will grant her that, she is brave… mean, but brave."

**She was a big girl with cruel eyes like her father's. She looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armor, but I didn't see how even she could stand against that bull's charge.**

**Unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding Annabeth. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.**

**"Behind you!" I yelled. "Look out!"**

**I shouldn't have said anything, because all I did was startle her. Bull Number One crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backward and landed in a smoldering patch of grass. The bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. They dropped their weapons and ran as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill.**

"What loyal friends." Athena spat out, making Apollo look at her in worry.

"I'm pretty sure that isn't what being loyal is. Are you okay 'Thena?"

"Of course I am okay you imbecile, that was merely sarcasm!"

"Okay, sorry, no need to be so touchy!"

**I lunged forward and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armor. I dragged her out of the way just as Bull Number Two freight-trained past. I gave it a good swipe with Riptide and cut a huge gash in its flank, but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going.**

Poseidon was sitting on the edge of his throne, looking as though he was about to have a heart attack while Percy tried not to laugh at his dad.

**It hadn't touched me, but I could feel the heat of its metal skin. Its body temperature could've microwaved a frozen burrito.**

"Why would you even think that in the middle of a fight?" Hera turned to look at the boy with a strange expression on her face. The demigod just grinned up at her and shrugged.

"ADHD?"

**"Let me go!" Clarisse pummelled my hand. "Percy, curse you!"**

"Great kid you got there!" Athena sighed, glaring half heartedly at Ares who grinned smugly.

"Yeah don't I know it!"

At this, the goddess literally face palmed. "Why do none of you idiots get sarcasm?"

"Oh , we do." Hermes answered her cheerfully, "It's just fun to wind you up by pretending that we don't!"

Hestia decided that now would be a good time to resume reading, preventing the fight that was sure to follow.

**I dropped her in a heap next to the pine tree and turned to face the bulls. We were on the inside slope of the hill now, the valley of Camp Half-Blood directly below us—the cabins, the training facilities, the Big House—all of it at risk if these bulls got past us.**

It wasn't just the gods who were leaning forwards in their seats now, the Romans had joined in the fad too, much to the amusement of the Greeks.

**Annabeth shouted orders to the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted.**

"And that, is why my children make much better generals on the battle field!" Athena declared, making Ares glower at her and Annabeth grin.

**Bull Number One ran a wide arc, making its way back toward me. As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind; but then it broke through and kept coming. Bull Number Two turned to face me, fire sputtering from the gash I'd cut in its side. I couldn't tell if it felt any pain, but its ruby eyes seemed to glare at me like I'd just made things personal.**

"Hmmm." The god of the forges hummed slightly in the back of his throat as he tapped his chin before declaring. "I think they do feel pain actually… though I think that's just going to make things worse for you."

"Gee, thanks Lord Hephaestus, that is exactly what we wanted to hear."

"No problem Percy, my boy."

**I couldn't fight both bulls at the same time. I'd have to take down Bull Number Two first, cut its head off before Bull Number One charged back into range. My arms already felt tired. I realized how long it had been since I'd worked out with Riptide, how out of practice I was.**

"Great." Kate groaned, giving up on fighting her bonds and just flopping back into her chair.

**I lunged but Bull Number Two blew flames at me.**

A small whimpering noise brought everyone up short as they saw that Poseidon had somehow managed to obtain the blue dolphin teddy from earlier and was now rocking in his throne, clutching is against his chest with his eyes screwed shut. Everyone had to stifle their laughter as Hermes brought out the camera again, smiling darkly to himself as he snapped shot after shot of the distraught sea god.

**I rolled aside as the air turned to pure heat. All the oxygen was sucked out of my lungs. My foot caught on something—a tree root, maybe—and pain shot up my ankle. Still, I managed to slash with my sword and lop off part of the monster's snout. It galloped away, wild and disoriented. But before I could feel too good about that, I tried to stand, and my left leg buckled underneath me. My ankle was sprained, maybe broken.**

Everyone in the room was now beginning to feel some pity for the stuffed animal that now looked like a pancake against the gods chest, still, none of them particularly wanted a bath at that moment in time, so they all refrained from mentioning anything.

**Bull Number One charged straight toward me. No way could I crawl out of its path.**

**Annabeth shouted: "Tyson, help him!"**

**Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't—get—through!"**

**"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"**

Without warning, Poseidon suddenly darted across the room to hug the daughter of Athena.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Um… you're welcome… can't. Breathe."

After being attacked by some rather vicious owls, and apologizing profusely to a somewhat ruffled Annabeth, the god of the seas returned to his throne with a very red face while the others struggled to contain their amusement.

**Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly Tyson was there, barrelling toward me, yelling: "Percy needs help!"**

Everyone laughed at this, and said boy's face went bright red as his cousin sighed.

"We've been saying that for years sweetie, but the psychiatrists just won't take him I'm afraid."

"Gee, thanks Nico, really feeling the love there man."

"You're welcome!"

**Before I could tell him no, he dove between me and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.**

**"Tyson!" I yelled.**

**The blast swirled around him like a red tornado. I could only see the black silhouette of his body. I knew with horrible certainty that my friend had just been turned into a column of ashes.**

Athena rolled her eyes at this comment and muttered something that sounded distinctly like the word "Moron" while everyone else just shot condescending looks at Percy, making him hide his face in his step-mother's hair.

**But when the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must've been as surprised as I was, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"**

Everyone laughed again at this. Grover bent over clutching his sides as he just about managed to get out.

"Tyson is _the _best Cyclops _ever!"_ Between his bleats.

**His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.**

"Well, that's an… interesting comparison?" Castor tried, making everyone else chuckle once again as the sea prince grinned at him.

"Thanks, I try so hard with these things."

"Yeah, We can see that."

**"Down!" Tyson yelled.**

**The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places. Annabeth ran over to check on me. My ankle felt like it was filled with acid, but she gave me some Olympian nectar to drink from her canteen, and I immediately started to feel better. There was a burning smell that I later learned was me. The hair on my arms had been completely singed off.**

"Barbecued sea food!" Frank suddenly called out, sending everyone into hysterics as Poseidon grinned across at his descendant.

"Why yes, yes it is Frank, how about you come join us in the family reunion? It's a lovely… heartwarming, experience!"

The Canadian just grinned as he slowly shook his head. "No thanks, think I'm fine were I am at the moment."

"Suit yourself, but it really is one heck of a party!"

Once again, the sound of scraping filled the room as everyone moved away from the sea god.

**"The other bull?" I asked.**

**Annabeth pointed down the hill. Clarisse had taken care of Bad Cow Number Two. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. Now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.**

**Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched toward us. A strand of her stringy brown hair was smoldering, but she didn't seem to notice. "You—ruin—everything!" she yelled at me. "I had it under control!"**

"Suuure you did." Travis purred out, rolling his eyes while his brother sighed.

"Yes, because you really wanted the bull to kill you didn't you Clarisse?"

**I was too stunned to answer. Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."**

**"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"**

**"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."**

**That sobered her up. Even Clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command.**

**"I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.**

**I stared at Tyson. "You didn't die."**

"Wow Perce, way to look on the bright side, it almost sounds as though you _wanted _him to die!"

"Shut it death breath, you're beginning to sound like _you _want to die."

"Point taken, I am going to stop talking now."

"Is that even Possible for you?" Thalia snickered while Nico glared at her furiously. Once more, Hestia read on in order to prevent a family brawl.

**Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."**

"Aw, soooo ccuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!" Aphrodite squealed, deafening everyone in the room. "Hephaestus, can we have one, pwease?"

She pouted up at her husband until he caved in.

"Fine, whatever makes you happy."

"Yay!"

**"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."**

**"Let him cross the boundary line?'" I asked. "But—"**

**"Percy," she said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."**

**The Mist makes humans see only what their brains can process ... I knew it could fool demigods too, but... I looked Tyson in the face. It wasn't easy. I'd always had trouble looking directly at him, though I'd never quite understood why. I'd thought it was just because he always had peanut butter in his crooked teeth.**

Percy grinned as he thought about his brother's future war cry.

I forced myself to focus at his big lumpy nose, then a little higher at his eyes.

**No, not eyes.**

**One eye. One large, calf-brown eye, right in the middle of his forehead, with thick lashes and big tears trickling down his cheeks on either side.**

"And the penny finally drops!" Thalia commented giving Percy a patronizing round of applause.

**"Tyson," I stammered. "You're a ..."**

**"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."**

**"Wait, a homeless Cyclopes that's an orphan?"**

"That's so sad." Hestia pouted, her domain included the home, and she felt bad that these children were denied one.

**"One of the what?"**

**"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully. "They're ... mistakes, Percy.**

"And why does that sound so familiar?" Nico asked, glaring at the gods with the other Half-bloods, until their parents began to shift in their seats with unease.

"We never said you were…" Aphrodite started to defend herself until Annabeth cut in.

"Poseidon called Percy his 'wrong doing' in the last book, so yeah, you said we were!"

Zeus frowned. "Is that what all of you children think about us? That we see you as… mistakes?"

"Well, let's see." Katie began to think, "You hardly ever claim us unless you want a job doing."

"Those jobs normally lead to our deaths." Connor chimed in helpfully.

"And even if we live we have to fight in awful battles that scar us for life." Travis supplied.

"And we virtually never get rewarded no matter how many times we save you." Percy finished, and all of the gods looked down in shame.

**Children of nature spirits and gods ... Well, one god in particular, usually ... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."**

**"But the fire. How—"**

**"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she were remembering something unpleasant.**

Annabeth, Grover and Thalia grimaced. Yes, it was very unpleasant.

**"They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."**

**I was completely shocked. How had I never realized what Tyson was?**

"Because you're an idiot?"

"You never pay attention?"

"You're too easy to dupe?"

"Because fire breathing monkeys live on the moon and throw turnips at you every hour of every day so that they can gradually take over your brain and initiate their plan to take over their world using starfish throwing knives?"

"… Thanks guys, I feel so loved! And Leo... just... wow."

"Thank you Percy, you may now bask in my awesomeness!"

"Um, no thanks, I don't think my step-mom wants me to talk to strangers."

"Well, what ever, but its your loss!"

"Funnily enough, I think I can live with that."

**But I didn't have much time to think about it just then. The whole side of the hill was burning. Wounded heroes needed attention. And there were still two banged-up bronze bulls to dispose of, which I didn't figure would fit in our normal recycling bins.**

Leo grinned wickedly at this before cheering. "YES, give it to us! We can have a ton of fun with all that metal!"

Hephaestus smiled proudly down at his son while everyone else shot the latino some pretty scared looks.

**Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."**

Hades hissed at this making everyone else jump, they had thought that he was asleep. "Did he just day…"

Nico sighed and sent a look across to his dad. "Yeah, he did, and from what I heard… didn't go so well."

"Perfect."

**"Tantalus?" I asked.**

**"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.**

**"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."**

**Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."**

The gods shared a concerned look, they had entrusted Chiron with their children for the last few thousand years, what would break their trust in him now? They sent a searching look across the room to their children only to find that half of them held clueless looks, while the others seemed to be attempting to suppress painful memories.

**"But Chiron ... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"**

**"That happened," Clarisse snapped.**

**She pointed to Thalia's tree.**

Thalia groaned loudly, covering her face with her hands and drawing the gaze of her father who seemed pretty worried. Rather than reassuring him, she just waved her aunt on and slouched lower in her chair.

**Every camper knew the story behind the tree. Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, and two other demigods named Thalia and Luke**

Hermes flinched at the mention of his son while the older demigods hissed.

**had come to Camp Half-Blood chased by an army of monsters. When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree.**

Zeus sighed at the reminder and sent a quick glare across the room to Hades who suddenly became extremely interested in the strap of his watch.

**Her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy.**

**But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.**

Thalia shuddered at this as Annabeth slipped her arms around her friend, pulling her in for a hug.

**Someone had poisoned it.**

At this, Jason ad Zeus jumped to their feet, screaming bloody murder, but, before they could manage anything, the doors to the throne room were flung open with a huge crash accompanied with the scream of "DADDY!" Before the Lord of the sea was pulled into a bone crushing hug.

* * *

**So, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to review! (And for Allen R, sorry about there not being any fluff, I intend to make up for that in the next chapter so please don't shoot me! –hides under table-)**


	6. I Get a New Cabin Mate

For a moment, there was silence as everyone tried to fathom just why exactly the lord of the sea had been thrown backwards several meters until he was laying in a tangled heap on the floor, but, after a small minute of hock, Percy broke the spell by laughing out loud.

"Tyson… I think it might be about time to let him breath now, after all, you don't want to hurt dad now do you?"

That snapped everyone out of the silence as they all began laughing at Poseidon as he was pulled to his feet by his giant of a son. Unfortunately for the hero, his baby brother had not been oblivious to whose voice had been berating him, and he spun round to grab the sea prince up off of the floor, enveloping him in a hug that was sure to leave a bruise.

Ignoring her cousin's silent plea for help, Thalia edged round the two siblings and accepted the book off of her aunt while the council just laughed good naturedly. They had figured that this new arrival was the Cyclopes from the story, seeing as though it would explain his reactions, so they decided not to press the matter.

Somehow, Percy finally managed to get away from the hug of death and flopped down into his seat, placing a hand on Annabeth's shoulder for support. Seemingly unfazed, the young Cyclops found his way to the seat designated to him as the daughter of Zeus began to read, an evil smirk stretching across her face.

"**I get a new Cabin Mate,"**

**Ever come home and found your room messed up? Like some helpful person (hi, Mom) has tried to "clean" it, and suddenly you can't find anything?**

"Ugh, don't remember my mom ever doing that, but the number of times I had to find my myth-o-magic cards after Bianca cleaned my room… just, no!" This son of Hades shook his head sadly at that, not noticing the strange looks he was getting from everyone else.

"Our rooms may seem messy…" Connor started.

"But we have a system!" His brother finished and they high fived each other grinning like mad men.

**And even if nothing is missing, you get that creepy feeling like somebody's been looking through your private stuff and dusting everything with lemon furniture polish?**

"How do you dust with polish?" Annabeth mocked her boyfriend, making him blush crimson and turn away from the other people in the room as they laughed at his expense.

"I was 13 okay…"

**That's kind of the way I felt seeing Camp Half-Blood again.**

"Worst summer ever!" Katie stated and everyone else that had been there nodded in agreement. In the background, the son of Jupiter was still glaring at the floor while his sister seemed to be wishing she was anywhere else.

**On the surface, things didn't look all that different.**

"Yes, because we get charged down by rampaging bulls every summer at camp half-blood." Piper rolled her eyes at the son of Poseidon, but he just grinned cockily back at her.

"Well… If you look at my track record…"

"Oh gods, shut up Percy, you aren't what anyone would call normal!"

**The Big House was still there with its blue gabled roof and its wrap around porch. The strawberry fields still baked in the sun. The same white-columned Greek buildings were scattered around the valley—the amphitheater, the combat arena, the dining pavilion overlooking Long Island Sound. And nestled between the woods and the creek were the same cabins—a crazy assortment of twelve buildings, each representing a different Olympian god.**

**But there was an air of danger now. You could tell something was wrong.**

"Really, what gave it away, the killer bulls or the fact that everyone was running around with weapons in plain sight?"

Percy pretended to think about that for a moment before turning back to his cousin.

"Actually, I think it was the fact Clarisse didn't try to stuff my head down the toilet but, well, you know."

At this, the two boys cracked up as their parents shook their heads at their antics.

**Instead of playing volleyball in the sandpit, counselors and satyrs were stockpiling weapons in the tool shed. Dryads armed with bows and arrows talked nervously at the edge of the woods. The forest looked sickly, the grass in the meadow was pale yellow, and the fire marks on Half-Blood Hill stood out like ugly scars.**

**Somebody had messed with my favorite place in the world, and I was not ... well, a happy camper.**

"Pitty they didn't burn it to the ground, then maybe I could have gone home ea.." The god of wine promptly stopped talking when he saw the look in his father's eye. No, Zeus was not to be messed with at the moment.

**As we made our way to the Big House, I recognized a lot of kids from last summer. Nobody stopped to talk.**

"Oh, was it a nice conversation seaweed brain? What did you talk about?"

"Oh, all kinds of things wise girl."

The campers groaned at the return of the nobody joke while Poseidon and Athena looked at their children, doubting their sanity.

**Nobody said, "Welcome back."**

Now Grover joined in the laughter, remembering the whole root of the joke. Tyson, looking confused, tried to laugh along too, but he gave up quickly in favor of pulling on the Satyr's curly hair.

Getting irritated of all the hair pulling, Grover turned round and licked Tyson's hand making him remove it with a slight "Eww." This time, everyone in the room started laughing, the tense atmosphere diminishing.

**Some did double takes when they saw Tyson, but most just walked grimly past and carried on with their duties—running messages, toting swords to sharpen on the grinding wheels. The camp felt like a military school. And believe me, I know. I've been kicked out of a couple.**

"Join the club Perce." Travis offered his hand to the sea prince as the boy's cousin grinned evily behind him.

"Yes, we have cookies." That, and the evil laugh were enough for everyone to throw a worried look at the ghost king, but they soon decided to just accept the fact that he was mentally unhinged. Life would be a whole lot simpler if they just ignored his strange behavior.

**None of that mattered to Tyson. He was absolutely fascinated by everything he saw. "Whasthat!" he gasped.**

**"The stables for pegasi," I said. "The winged horses."**

"I really want to see your camp some day." Hazel sighed dreamily.

**"Whasthat!"**

**"Um ... those are the toilets."**

No one in the room could resist the laughing that spread like wildfire. Tyson could brighten anyone's day.

"That's just adorable," Aphrodite giggled.

**"Whasthat!"**

**"The cabins for the campers. If they don't know who your Olympian parent is, they put you in the Hermes cabin—**

"Which is why it is so overcrowded." Travis sighed making his father grimace in his throne.

"Seriously, you guy really need to start claiming your kids so that mine have room to breathe!"

The gods all had the decency to look a little abashed at that, making their children smile.

**that brown one over there—until you're determined. Then, once they know, they put you in your dad or mom's group."**

**He looked at me in awe. "You ... have a**_**cabin?"**_

"Poor boy, must sound like a palace after having to live in a cardboard box." Hestia sighed from her place by the fire, sending a warm look to the baby Cyclops who grinned toothily back at her.

**"Number three." I pointed to a low gray building made of sea stone.**

**"You live with friends in the cabin?"**

"He better not have any company in that cabin!" Zeus growled darkly, though his daughter simply ignored that last comment and continued reading.

**"No. No, just me." I didn't feel like explaining. The embarrassing truth: I was the only one who stayed in that cabin because I wasn't supposed to be alive.**

"That's the worst part of being a big three kid." Percy sighed while Nico, Jason and Thalia nodded along. The mentioned gods looked down at the floor guiltily, they brought such awful fates upon their children, it was really enough to make even these three bow their heads in shame.

**The "Big Three" gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—had made a pact after World War II not to have any more children with mortals. We were more powerful than regular half-bloods. We were too unpredictable. When we got mad we tended to cause problems ... like World War II, for instance. The "Big Three" pact had only been broken twice—once when Zeus sired Thalia, once when Poseidon sired me. Neither of us should've been born.**

"Wow, thanks for that amazing reference kelp head, its an off day when I don't have _someone _telling me that I shouldn't have been born!"

"Anytime pinecone face, us illegal children should stick together!"

Poseidon and Zeus flinched at the exchange.

**Thalia had gotten herself turned into a pine tree when she was twelve.**

"Wow, he makes it sound like I chose to be in the blasted thing!" Thalia muttered, but she read on before anyone else could comment.

**Me ... well, I was doing my best not to follow her example.**

"Here here!" Nico cried in mock joy, "That's what we all aim for in life!"

"Nico, sit down, you're embarrassing yourself."

"Yes Annie!"

"HEY how many times do I have to tell you-"

"READ THALIA!"

**I had nightmares about what Poseidon might turn me into if I were ever on the verge of death— plankton, maybe. Or a floating patch of kelp.**

"Gotta love that pessimistic attitude little cuz!" Apollo laughed, before he was silenced by a death glare from his uncle.

**When we got to the Big House, we found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags. I guess I should mention—Chiron is a centaur. From the waist up he looks like a regular middle-aged guy with curly brown hair and a scraggly beard. From the waist down, he's a white stallion. He can pass for human by compacting his lower half into a magic wheelchair. In fact, he'd passed himself off as my Latin teacher during my sixth-grade year. But most of the time, if the ceilings are high enough, he prefers hanging out in full centaur form.**

"Understandable." Athena nodded her head while Hephaestus rolled his eyes in the background.

"Yes, I was rather under the impression that we all knew that 'Thena."

Sensing another Argument, Thalia quickly read on.

**As soon as we saw him, Tyson froze. "Pony!" he cried in total rapture.**

This garnered a laugh from everyone once again as Percy pet his little brother affectionately on the shoulder.

"Only you could get away with that big guy!"

This comment earned him a toothy grin from the young monster.

**Chiron turned, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"**

**"Or not." Percy quickly amended earning yet another laugh.**

**Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not ... leaving?" Her voice was shaky. Chiron was like a second father to her.** **Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kindly smile.**

Annabeth smiled fondly.

**"Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness. You've grown over the year!"**

"No joke." Castor snorted. "You used to be a right midget!"

"Oh, thanks dude."

"No problem Perce

**I swallowed. "Clarisse said you were ... you were ..."**

**"Fired." Chiron's eyes glinted with dark humor. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."**

"And you decided to punish _Chiron?_ You moron, he was the only one at that camp that actually trained the children properly…" (needless to say Athena's rant covers many more pages though, for the sake of the reader's delicate ears, it has been cut short, you're welcome.)

**"Besides himself, you mean," I growled. Just the thought of the camp director, Mr. D, made me angry.**

"Hey, I take offence to that?"

"Exactly how do you take offence, you told me just the other day that you try your best to annoy the demibrats." Ares drawled, looking bored, but shutting his brother up pretty quickly.

**"But this is crazy!" Annabeth cried. "Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"**

**"Nevertheless," Chiron sighed, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances."**

"Seriously, this family needs some serious counseling to get over our trust issues!" Hera huffed.

"And cereal, don't forget cereal."

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that Demeter."

"WHY? What is wrong with cereal?"

"She's not saying that there is anything wrong with cereal sister, she is saying that there is something wrong with y_ou!"_

"Say's the one who kidnapped my daughter and forced her to marry him?"

"I'm still here mother!"

"For now, but how long until you get forced back to that awful place again?"

"Mother, I actually like it down there!"

The demigods watched in amusement as the argument played out where as the gods simply looked bored, this was what always happened when those three were in the same room, no matter how hard they tried to avoid it. Eventually, Zeus gestured for his daughter to start reading again, cutting off what was sure to be an hour long rant about pomegranates.

**"What circumstances?" I asked.** **Chiron's face darkened. He stuffed a Latin-English dictionary into his saddlebag while the Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boom box.** **Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like he wanted to pat Chiron's flank but was afraid to come closer. "Pony?"**

Snickers could be heard throughout the room making Tyson blush.

"Well, at least we know whose son he is." Hermes joked, making his uncle smile happily in response before…

"HEY, I do not do that!"

"Sure you don't uncle P, sure you don't!"

**Chiron sniffed. "My dear young Cyclops! I am a**_**centaur.**_**"**

**"Chiron," I said. "What about the tree? What happened?"**

**He shook his head sadly. "The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."**

**"Then we know who's responsible. Kro—"**

The atmosphere in the room darkened at this, and all the demigods flinched, something that was not lost on the gods as they shared a worried look, but decided that they would discuss these matters later.

**"Do not invoke the titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now."**

**"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This**_**has**_**to be his idea. He'd get Luke to do it, that traitor."**

Hermes stiffened at the mention of his son's name as the demigods glared at the floor. The only kind gaze was from Percy as he tried to cheer up his moping girlfriend by pulling her back onto his lap and squeezing her shoulders lightly.

**"Perhaps," Chiron said. "But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless ..."**

**"Unless what?" Annabeth asked.**

**"No," Chiron said. "A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."**

**"What**_**is**_**it?"**

Athena groaned and slouched down in her chair even more.

"Please daughter, tell me that you're not going to go off on a quest after that specific item… please?"

Annabeth sighed and bit her lip before replying hesitantly.

"Don't worry mother, we don't go off on a quest in this book."

After all, it was not a lie, the three of them sneaking out wasn't the same as the three of them going on a quest, well, not really.

**I asked. "We'll go find it!"**

**Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the stop button on his boom box. Then he turned and rested his hand on my shoulder, looking me straight in the eyes. "Percy, you must promise me that you will**_**not**_**act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, **_**stay**_**here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."**

"Yes, like that's going to work." Thalia groaned. "If anything, that's gonna make him want to go even more!"

Deciding that he had no right to argue, Percy merely hid his face in his girlfriend's hair, trying to hide his guilty expression from his tension filled father.

**"Why?" I asked. "I want to do something! I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be—"**

**"Overrun by monsters," Chiron said. "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life."**

"And that's supposed to deter me how exactly? I mean, it isn't like that is anything new, that guy really hates me!" Percy rolled his eyes at his teacher's foolishness while his father groaned. Great, so the life or death situations were far from over.

**It was true, but still, I wanted to help so badly. I also wanted to make Kronos pay. I mean, you'd think the titan lord would've learned his lesson eons ago when he was over thrown by the gods. You'd think getting chopped into a million pieces and cast into the darkest part of the Underworld would give him a subtle clue that nobody wanted him around.**

"Yes, well, the men in our family aren't too good at taking hints. Subtlety just isn't their thing!" All the goddesses glared at their husbands for a minute after Hera's words, but Thalia suddenly decided that she didn't like the awkward silence so she quickly read on.

**But no. Because he was immortal, he was still alive down there in Tartarus—suffering in eternal pain, hungering to return and take revenge on Olympus.**

"Well, doesn't that sound lovely?" Catching the strange glances from the people around him, the ghost king raised his hands in surrender. "And that, was sarcasm!"

**He couldn't act on his own, but he was great at twisting the minds of mortals and even gods to do his dirty work.**

"Yeah," Percy winced. "He's really great at it…"

**The poisoning**_**had**_**to be his doing. Who else would be so low as to attack Thalia's tree, the only thing left of a hero who'd given her life to save her friends?**

"That's low!" Hazel glared at the floor as she spoke, "No one should do that to a fallen hero!"

**Annabeth was trying hard not to cry.**

**As she was now, her face hidden in her boyfriend's neck. **

**Chiron brushed a tear from her cheek. "Stay with Percy, child," he told her. "Keep him safe. The prophecy—remember it!"**

**"I—I will."**

**"Um ..." I said. "Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"**

"Way to be sum up that really devastating prophecy in a sentence Perce, I'm beginning to think you really have a nack for those kind of things." Jason joked, shooting a grin at his cousin that was quickly returned.

**Nobody answered.**

** "Right," I muttered. "Just checking."**

**"Chiron ..." Annabeth said. "You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp—"**

**"Swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger," he insisted. "Swear upon the River Styx."**

**"I—I swear it upon the River Styx," Annabeth said.**

"Annabeth…"

"Yes Thalia?"

"You know you just swore to do the impossible there."

"… Oops, I didn't really think about that."

**Thunder rumbled outside.**

**"Yes because Zeus is such a little drama queen." Hades chuckled under his breath, earning a glare from the god of the skies.**

**"Very well," Chiron said. He seemed to relax just a little. "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved ... one way or another."**

**Annabeth stifled a sob. Chiron patted her shoulder awkwardly. "There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D**

"NO no no no no no no no no no no!"

"Um, brother, don't you think that is a little bit of an overreaction… my son isn't that bad you… oh, never mind, I take that back."

The king of the gods amended when he saw the evil look on his sons face, making a mental note to find a different place to punish the wine god later rather than having him torture the children in the future.

**and the new activities director. We must hope ... well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear."**

"Ah Chiron, always the optimist!" Apollo sighed, before his sister decided to whack him over the head.

**"Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway?" I demanded. "Where does he get off taking your job?"**

All the older demigods winced at the name while Poseidon turned red with anger. Rounding on his nephew, the gods killing aura was unmistakable.

"TANTALUS? You let TANTALUS near our children? Of all the bastards in the fields of punishment, why of all reason did you decide that we was a good choice to work with KIDS!"

"Calm down brother, the boy hasn't done it yet, I'm sure he will make better decisions in the future!"

Under the calming gaze of Hestia, the god of the seas returned to his seat though he was still shooting the evil eye at the now cowering wine god.

**A conch horn blew across the valley. I hadn't realized how late it was. It was time for the campers to assemble for dinner.**

The smell of food drifted around the throne room and, when they turned, everyone could clearly see a plate of chips and Gravy in the lap of the war god. Ares simply shrugged in a "what-you-gonna-do." Way and everyone turned back to the book.

**"Go," Chiron said. "You will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the titan lord has forgotten you!"**

**With that, he clopped out of the apartment and down the hall, Tyson calling after him, "Pony! Don't go!"**

Everyone laughed again at this and some of the goddesses were cooing over how cute Tyson was, making the baby Cyclops blush bright red in the process.

**I realized I'd forgotten to tell Chiron about my dream of Grover. Now it was too late. The best teacher I'd ever had was gone, maybe for good.**

**Tyson started bawling almost as bad as Annabeth. I tried to tell them that things would be okay, but I didn't believe it.**

"I miss pony."

"Its okay big guy, its okay."

**The sun was setting behind the dining pavilion as the campers came up from their cabins. We stood in the shadow of a marble column and watched them file in. Annabeth was still pretty shaken up, but she promised she'd talk to us later. Then she went off to join her siblings from the Athena cabin—a dozen boys and girls with blond hair and gray eyes like hers. Annabeth wasn't the oldest, but she'd been at camp more summers than just about anybody. You could tell that by looking at her camp necklace—one bead for every summer, and Annabeth had six. No one questioned her right to lead the line.**

Annabeth grinned proudly at this under her mother's warm smile, but then she turned round quickly to peck Percy on the lips and that smile quickly turned into a look of disgust though she refrained from commenting, having taken all of her anger with the matter out earlier when she was having her 'alone time'.

**Next came Clarisse, leading the Ares cabin. She had one arm in a sling and a nasty-looking gash on her cheek, but otherwise her encounter with the bronze bulls didn't seem to have fazed her. Someone had taped a piece of paper to her back that said, YOU MOO, GIRL! But nobody in her cabin was bothering to tell her about it.**

"Oh, I wonder who did that." Katie sighed, rolling her eyes at the sons of Hermes in the room who were now trying to play innocent.

"Oh, so do I… do you know anything Travis?"

"Of course I do Conner."

"AH, yes, so do I now that I think about it!"

They both grinned at each other before high fiving.

**After the Ares kids came the Hephaestus cabin—six guys led by Charles Beckendorf, a big fifteen-year-old African American kid.**

Hephaestus smiled fondly at the mention of his favorite son and Leo sat forwards in his chair. He had always been told stories about the former leader of cabin 9, but he still wanted to learn as much about his half brother as possible.

**He had hands the size of catchers' mitts and a face that was hard and squinty from looking into a blacksmiths forge all day. He was nice enough once you got to know him, but no one ever called him Charlie or Chuck or Charles.**

No one noticed how the older half bloods winced slightly at this.

**Most just called him Beckendorf. Rumor was he could make anything.**

"Was he really that amazing?" Leo asked in awe while Annabeth smiled at him sadly.

"Yeah, he was one of the best we've ever had."

The god of the forges listened to their conversation with growing unease, he didn't like the way they were talking about his son in the past tense as if her were… no, he wasn't even going to go there. He was probably reading the situation all wrong, after all, humans are far too complicated to try to understand.

**Give him a chunk of metal and he could create a razor-sharp sword or a robotic warrior or a singing birdbath for your grandmother's garden. Whatever you wanted.**

**The other cabins filed in: Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus. Naiads came up from the canoe lake.**

**Dryads melted out of the trees. From the meadow came a dozen satyrs, who reminded me painfully of Grover.**

**I'd always had a soft spot for the satyrs. When they were at camp, they had to do all kinds of odd jobs for Mr. D, the director, but their most important work was out in the real world. They were the camp's seekers. They went undercover into schools all over the world, looking for potential half-bloods and escorting them back to camp. That's how I'd met Grover. He had been the first one to recognize I was a demigod.**

"And I still can't believe my luck." The Satyr groaned. "the 4 strongest demigods in the centaury and I find them all." He shook his head sadly at this.

"Its cause you got the biggest heart I've ever seen G-man."

"Thanks Pece."

**After the satyrs filed in to dinner, the Hermes cabin brought up the rear.**

"why am I always last?" Hermes groaned, but nobody decided to answer him.

**They were always the biggest cabin. Last summer, it had been led by Luke, the guy who'd fought with Thalia and Annabeth on top of Half-Blood Hill. For a while, before Poseidon had claimed me, I'd lodged in the Hermes cabin. Luke had befriended me ... and then he'd tried to kill me.**

"Do you have to keep brining that up?" Annabeth sighed against his neck before peering up at him with sad eyes.

"Sorry Annabeth."

**Now the Hermes cabin was led by Travis and Connor Stoll.**

"OH YEAH!" Travis and Connor stood up and cheered. "We are awesome!"

"Does anyone else find it creepy that those two can say the exact same thing at the same time?" Rachel asked looking around the others before sighing in exasperation, "Really, none of you do?"

"Well, if you live in our world, you kind of just learn to go with the flow." Nico shrugged as Thalia began reading again.

**They weren't twins, but they looked so much alike it didn't matter. I could never remember which one was older.**

"I'm older," Travis immediately said.

"No, I am!" Connor spat back.

"But I was born first!"

"No you weren't I was!"

"But I'm one year _older_ than you!"

"No you aren't."

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty but can I finish reading please?" Thalia smiled sweetly at the brothers and they decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to push the matter further and returned to their seats.

**They were both tall and skinny, with mops of brown hair that hung in their eyes. They wore orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts untucked over baggy shorts, and they had those elfish features all Hermes's kids had: upturned eyebrows, sarcastic smiles, a gleam in their eyes whenever they looked at you—like they were about to drop a firecracker down your shirt.**

The two brothers immediately put their heads together and started muttering under their breath as all the demigods groaned.

"Thanks for giving them that Idea Jackson, now we are all doomed!" Katie shot at Percy with a long suffering look in her eyes. The son of Poseidon simply smiled sheepishly in response.

**I'd always thought it was funny that the god of thieves would have kids with the last name "Stoll," but the only time I mentioned it to Travis and Connor, they both stared at me blankly like they didn't get the joke.**

Everyone in the room looked at the two blankly for this.

"Honestly, you don't get why that is ironic?" Athena asked them, amazed that they would be that stupid, but when she got no response, she simply shook her head muttering "morons" before motioning for Thalia to read.

**As soon as the last campers had filed in, I led Tyson into the middle of the pavilion. Conversations faltered. Heads turned. "Who invited**_**that?**_**" somebody at the Apollo table murmured.**

The baby Cyclops began whimpering a little at that comment before the people around him began comforting him in quiet voices so that the story could carry on.

**I glared in their direction, but I couldn't figure out who'd spoken.**

**From the head table a familiar voice drawled, "Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete."**

"I never knew you liked my son so much nephew!" Poseidon smirked as the god of wine rolled his eyes but decided not to comment.

**I gritted my teeth.**_**"Percy Jackson**_**... sir."**

"He does it on purpose," Annabeth mentioned, pointedly looking at Dionysus.

**Mr. D sipped his Diet Coke. "Yes. Well, as you young people say these days:**_**Whatever."**_

**He was wearing his usual leopard-pattern Hawaiian shirt, walking shorts, and tennis shoes with black socks. With his pudgy belly and his blotchy red face,**

Everyone cracked up at that apart from the afore mentioned god who started grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "and they wonder hy I don't like them… stupid brats!"

**he looked like a Las Vegas tourist who'd stayed up too late in the casinos. Behind him, a nervous-looking satyr was peeling the skins off grapes and handing them to Mr. D one at a time.**

"Dionysus, they're not your slaves," Hera scolded while the god just shrugged indifferently.

**Mr. D's real name is Dionysus. The god of wine. Zeus appointed him director of Camp Half-Blood to dry out for a hundred years—a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph.**

"Well, you have to admit, she was a really fiiiine looking nymph." He muttered dreamily before he received a 500v shock through his system. "Sorry father."

"Sure you are." Zeus muttered darkly, but he allowed his daughter to read on none the less.

**Next to him, where Chiron usually sat (or stood, in centaur form), was someone I'd never seen before—a pale, horribly thin man in a threadbare orange prisoner's jump suit. The number over his pocket read 0001.**

"Worst activities director ever!" Percy spat while all the others nodded their agreement to the statement.

**He had blue shadows under his eyes, dirty fingernails, and badly cut gray hair, like his last haircut had been done with a weed whacker. He stared at me; his eyes made me nervous. He looked ... fractured. Angry and frustrated and hungry all at the same time.**

Aphrodite shuddered a little at the description, but otherwise refrained from commenting.

**"This boy," Dionysus told him, "you need to watch. Poseidon's child, you know."**

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Poseidon huffed, looking like a sulky child while Zeus smiled down at him gloatingly.

"It is, it means that he shouldn't exist."

"Says the one with two illegal children 20 meters in front of us."

That shut him up.

**"Ah!" the prisoner said. "That one."**

**His tone made it obvious that he and Dionysus had already discussed me at length.**

**"I am Tantalus," the prisoner said, smiling coldly. "On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you, Perseus Jackson, I**_**do**_**expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."**

"You think." Nico sighed, "that we haven't already tried that?"

"Nico, you didn't even know me back then."

"Still, it doesn't work though does it."

"… good point!"

**"Trouble?" I demanded.**

**Dionysus snapped his fingers. A newspaper appeared on the table—the front page of today's**_**New York Post,**_**There was my yearbook picture from Meriwether Prep. It was hard for me to make out the headline, but I had a pretty good guess what it said. Something like:**_**Thirteen-Year-Old Lunatic Torches Gymnasium.**_

"You're best stunt yet," Hermes beamed high fiving Percy while the goddesses simply rolled their eyes.

"boys!" Artemis spat, looking thoroughly irritated, though that may have had something to do with the fact that Apollo had just slung his arm around her shoulder.

**"Yes, trouble," Tantalus said with satisfaction. "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand."**

**I was too mad to speak. Like it was**_**my**_**fault the gods had almost gotten into a civil war?**

** A satyr inched forward nervously and set a plate of barbecue in front of Tantalus. The new activities director licked his lips. He looked at his empty goblet and said, "Root beer. Barq's special stock. 1967."**

**The glass filled itself with foamy soda. Tantalus stretched out his hand hesitantly, as if he were afraid the goblet was hot.**

**"Go on, then, old fellow," Dionysus said, a strange sparkle in his eyes. "Perhaps now it will work."**

"Or not," Hades smirked. There was a sound of scraping as people tried to move away from his malicious look.

**Tantalus grabbed for the glass, but it scooted away before he could touch it. A few drops of root beer spilled, and Tantalus tried to dab them up with his fingers, but the drops rolled away like quicksilver before he could touch them. He growled and turned toward the plate of barbecue. He picked up a fork and tried to stab a piece of brisket, but the plate skittered down the table and flew off the end, straight into the coals of the brazier.**

"My curses will not be broken that easily mortal." Hades laughed darkly, sounding every bit the evil villain.

**"Blast!" Tantalus muttered.**

**"Ah, well," Dionysus said, his voice dripping with false sympathy. "Perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."**

"really? I would have thought that you would have known me better than that Nephew, would you like to test for me how long it takes for my curses to wear off?"

Dionysus blanched a sickly white colour at the words. "No thank you uncle."

"That's what I thought."

**"Eventually," muttered Tantalus, staring at Dionysus's Diet Coke. "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?"**

"Really dry," Connor said.

"Good answer," Percy smirked rolling his eyes mockingly and making the son of Hermes glare playfully at him..

**"You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment," I said. "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."**

"Have you no heart uncle H, that's just torture!" Apollo moaned out, making the dark god laugh.

"Only when it comes to important matters Apollo." As he spoke, he rested a hand softly on his wife's shoulder making her beam with happiness and making Demeter glare at the couple.

**Tantalus sneered at me. "A real scholar, aren't you, boy?"**

**"You must've done something really horrible when you were alive," I said, mildly impressed. "What was it?"**

Some of the gods went a light green colour at the memory before Poseidon turned to his son. "You don't want to know son, you really don't want to know."

"I already found out."

"Oh."

**Tantalus's eyes narrowed. Behind him, the satyrs were shaking their heads vigorously, trying to warn me.**

"Which never works." Annabeth shook her head in mock annoyance before playfully bashing Percy over the head.

"HEY!"

**"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson," Tantalus said. "I don't want any problems at my camp."**

**"**_**Your**_**camp has problems already ... sir."**

Yet another round of laughter filled the room as Dionysus glared at the floor.

**"Oh, go sit down, Johnson," Dionysus sighed. "I believe that table over there is yours—the one where no one else ever wants to sit."**

"Well, that wasn't very nice dear." Hestia scolded from by the fine, making the wine gods face flush with chagrin.

"Sorry Aunty."

**My face was burning, but I knew better than to talk back. Dionysus was an overgrown brat, but he was an immortal, super powerful overgrown brat.**

"Excuse me?" Dionysus scoffed. "I am not a brat, you are."

"That's actually debatable."

Dionysus turned as though he was about to say something to his brother, but seeing as though the war god was in the process of playing with a very sharp knife, he wisely decided to let the matter go.

**I said, "Come on, Tyson."**

**"Oh, no," Tantalus said. "The monster stays here. We must decide what to do with it."**

Tyson whimpered gain as everyone in the room shot a dirty look at the wine god who had suddenly become very interested in the engravings of grape vines in his throne.

_**"Him,"**_**I snapped. "His name is Tyson."**

**The new activities director raised an eyebrow.**

**"Tyson saved the camp," I insisted. "He pounded those bronze bulls. Otherwise they would've burned down this whole place."**

**"Yes," Tantalus sighed, "and**_**what**_**a pity that would've been."**

**Dionysus snickered.**

**An action that he repeated in the throne room but soon stopped when faced by the glares of many angry parents with children at that camp.**

**"Leave us," Tantalus ordered, "while we decide this creature's fate."**

**Tyson looked at me with fear in his one big eye, but I knew I couldn't disobey a direct order from the camp directors. Not openly, anyway.**

**"I'll be right over here, big guy," I promised. "Don't worry. We'll find you a good place to sleep tonight."**

**Tyson nodded. "I believe you. You are my friend."**

"Always big guy, always!" Percy comforted his brother, suddenly remembering how he acted in the later part of that summer and trying to fight back the shame that came with it.

**Which made me feel a whole lot guiltier.**

**I trudged over to the Poseidon table and slumped onto the bench. A wood nymph brought me a plate of Olympian olive-and-pepperoni pizza, but I wasn't hungry. I'd been almost killed twice today. I'd managed to end my school year with a complete disaster. Camp Half-Blood was in serious trouble and Chiron had told me not to do anything about it.**

"well that's a happy thought." Thalia sighed.

**I didn't feel very thankful, but I took my dinner, as was customary, up to the bronze brazier and scraped part of it into the flames.**

**"Poseidon," I murmured, "accept my offering."**

_**And send me some help while you're at it,**_**I prayed silently.**_**Please.**_

Poseidon smiled, yes, he would send help. Especially seeing what close friends Percy and Thalia turned out to be in the future.

**The smoke from the burning pizza changed into some thing fragrant—the smell of a clean sea breeze with wild-flowers mixed in—but I had no idea if that meant my father was really listening.**

"Tell me then Percy, what else would it mean?"

Percy blinked up at his father looking a bit confused for a minute before he answered.

"Errrrr… ration say's hi?"

"Ha ha, very funny son."

"Thanks dad, I try!"

"Percy, that was sarcasm."

"Yup, I noticed."

**I went back to my seat. I didn't think things could get much worse. But then Tantalus had one of the satyrs blow the conch horn to get our attention for announcements.**

**"Yes, well," Tantalus said, once the talking had died down. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told." As he spoke, he inched his hand toward his refilled dinner plate, as if maybe the food wouldn't notice what he was doing, but it did. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within six inches.**

More laughter filled the room at this, but unlike before this type was rather dark and sadistic.

**"And here on my first day of authority," he continued, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture,**

Everyone raised their eyebrows and some of the goddesses began to glare at the book.

**er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."**

"That's it, I want him AWAY from my children NOW!" Aphrodite screeched while the other gods nodded in the background. No, they did not want that monster anywhere near their precious children, especially not with his history.

**Dionysus clapped politely, leading to some halfhearted applause from the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, looking uncomfortable, but every time he tried to scoot out of the limelight, Tantalus pulled him back.**

**"And now some changes!" Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"**

"Wicked!" Ares leaned forwards in his throne, licking his lips.

"Not wicked Ares." Athena scowled at him. "Do you know how many people were killed in those things?"

"Give up Athena, there is no way you are going to get into his thick skull." Artemis sighed, pulling her sister back into her seat.

**Murmuring broke out at all the tables—excitement, fear, disbelief.**

**"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice, "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."**

**"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," someone at the Apollo table called.**

"Trust your kids to know that Apollo." Hermes rolled his eyes at his favorite brother who just shrugged in response.

"Well, who else's kids are going to patch the injured ones up?"

This comment was met with silence causing him to grin broadly.

"I rest my case."

**"Yes, yes!" Tantalus said. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"**

"Bribery," Hermes spat. "As much as I hate this guy, I have to admit, he is good at getting what he wants!"

**An explosion of excited conversation—no KP for a whole month? No stable cleaning? Was he serious?**

**Then the last person I expected to object did so.**

**"But, sir!" Clarisse said. She looked nervous, but she stood up to speak from the Ares table. Some of the campers snickered when they saw the YOU MOO, GIRL! sign on her back. "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots—"**

"he girl has a point." Athena commented. "Surely he doesn't want to leave the camp completely unprotected!"

"Actually." Demeter spat, looking sour, "I think that is _exactly_ what he wants."

**"Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus exclaimed. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"**

"Bad cows!" Tyson sniffled, still trying to get over the previous comment.

**Clarisse blinked, then blushed. "Um, I didn't—"**

"Again, he is too good at getting what he wants!"

"A bit like a certain other immortal I could mention." Apollo taunted before seeing the look on his brother's face and deciding to drop the matter.

**"And modest, too." Tantalus grinned. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy our selves, yes?"**

**"Which they cannot do if they are dead." Aphrodite all but growled at the book, scaring some of the people around Thalia in the process. **

**"But the tree—"**

Thalia shuddered at the reminder.

**"And now," Tantalus said, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring**_**this**_**here." Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson.**

Thankfully Grover had remembered this specific bit and had distracted Tyson with making a house out of aluminium cans on the floor so that the Cyclops didn't here the next bit of the story.

**Uneasy murmuring spread among the campers. A lot of sideways looks at me. I wanted to kill Tantalus.**

"I think we all did Percy, at some point over the summer at least." Annabeth commented.

**"Now, of course," he said, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"**

**Silence at the Hermes table. Travis and Connor Stoll developed a sudden interest in the tablecloth. I couldn't blame them. The Hermes cabin was always full to bursting. There was no way they could take in a six-foot-three Cyclops.**

Connor and Travis looked down guiltily, yes, there was that reason, but it was not the main one for their silence.

**"Come now," Tantalus chided. "The monster may be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"**

**Suddenly everybody gasped.**

**Tantalus scooted away from Tyson in surprise. All I could do was stare in disbelief at the brilliant green light that was about to change my life—a dazzling holographic image that had appeared above Tyson's head.**

Everyone was silent but Poseidon began to smile slightly.

**With a sickening twist in my stomach, I remembered what Annabeth had said about Cyclopes,**_**They're the children of nature spirits and gods ... Well, one god in particular, usually …**_

"Me." Poseidon stated happily, settling back into his throne.

**Swirling over Tyson was a glowing green trident—the same symbol that had appeared above me the day Poseidon had claimed me as his son.**

**There was a moment of awed silence.**

**Being claimed was a rare event. Some campers waited in vain for it their whole lives. When I'd been claimed by Poseidon last summer, everyone had reverently knelt.**

**But now, they followed Tantalus's lead, and Tantalus roared with laughter. "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"**

At this, Poseidon's happy mood vanished and he went back to glaring at the book, along with Percy.

**Everybody laughed except Annabeth and a few of my other friends.**

**Tyson didn't seem to notice. He was too mystified, trying to swat the glowing trident that was now fading over his head. He was too innocent to understand how much they were making fun of him, how cruel people were.**

**But I got it.**

**I had a new cabin mate. I had a monster for a half-brother.**

Thalia was seething by the time she read the last part and, when she finished, the book in her hands snapped shut loudly in the silent throne room.

"Right, that's it, who's going to read ne-"

But she never got to finish that sentence as, right at that moment, a sweeping chill filled the throne room clawing at everyone's spines and making them shiver. But that was all before the world went black.


	7. Of Gifts and Fury

The second the throne room went black Athena knew that something was wrong. Although the emotions and desires of the Olympian council could effect what happened inside the walls of the palace (as had been proven by Poseidon), it had been specifically designed to block any change that was this prominent meaning that this had to be far more powerful than any of them, something that did not bode well.

Yet another thing that did not sit well in her mind was the fact that, apart from the initial cry of surprise from their children across the whole, the room had been eerily silent there after, not even the sound of breathing could be detected by her sharpened senses and that did nothing to ally her fears. Still, she was the goddess of wisdom so it was not in her nature to panic… over much, and truthfully, rushing around in a frenzy would do little to help with the situation. Sighing slightly, she leant back in her rapidly cooling throne and took a deep breath.

"I don't mean to alarm anyone, but this is a problem,"

"No duh Thene, I think we already figure-"

There was a sound of an arrow being released and a sharp hiss of pain which caused Apollo to stop mid sentence, allowing the goddess to continue on with her message from before.

"As I said, this is a problem and, as we have no idea about what is happening it might be better for everyone to grab hold of the people closest to you, just for security reasons."

From the sound of the grumbling god of the skies, she could tell that this was not an idea that sat well with her father, but the chill that was beginning to sweep through the room, permeating the very air which they were breathing, was beginning to make her feel on edge, furthering her belief in caution. However, she needn't have worried over much about the safety of her siblings, for, less than a minute later, the air cleared and the room swan back into focus.

"What the…."

"Okay, well, that was weird."

"Who on earth did that?"

And so the babble went on before a single question from Hestia cut through all the noise though she spoke in little more than a whisper, her words chilling the hearts of all the beings in the room.

"What happened to the children?"

Athena cursed as she span round to check on where the demigods had been only moments before, how could she have been so stupid? Of all the beings in the room she had been worried about, she had to choose the ones who were far more than capable at defending themselves. No one had even bothered to check on the godlings, all thoughts of them driven from mind by shock and, admittedly, fear.

Now, as they all turned to where they had last seen their children, the gods of Olympus let out a collective gasp of horror. Of the many coal black seats that had littered the area in front of them, only 4 remained, though they seemed to have been smashed rather badly. Of the demigods themselves, nothing could be found over than 4 bodies strewn across the floor looking to all the world like corpses.

Steeling herself not to flinch, the goddess looked up to check the symbols of the remaining seats and her heart sank even more in her hollow chest. A trident, skull, moon and, she fought back tears as her eyes focused on the last one, her mind not wanting to make sense of the insignia that still glowed slightly, giving off the image of an owl.

After a moment of stunned silence, something seemed to click in the minds of the assembled council and they all sprung into action. Quick as a flash Hermes had gathered the bodies and lain them next to each other in front of Apollo as the god of medicine looked them over. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, his expression grew furious and the room around them shook, though it was no surprise why.

In front of him, pale as ghosts, though thankfully they were all still breathing, lay Annabeth Chase, Nico Di Angelo, Thalia Grace and Percy Jackson.

The best off of the 4 was definitely the huntress, her wounds could be seen as shallow even from this distance and she merely seemed to be sleeping from exhaustion, though she stirred and looked to be on the verge of consciousness. This did little to ease her mistress' worry though as she dropped to her knees next to her lieutenant the second the healer was done with her, gripping one hand of their younger sister even as their father grasped the other.

Next was the son of Hades, and though he did not seem to be wounded in anyway, he seemed far paler than normal and so thin you could make out most of the bones in his uncovered areas through the skin, though curiously, he looked slightly older than he had before. Worse though was the fact that his chest barely rose, and, though Apollo had no explanation for it, the boy's heart rate was slower that it should be.

Finally came the sea spawn and her daughter, and when Athena's eyes focused on the pair she felt her vision flare red. It wasn't the fact that both of the looked far to thin, or the way that their skin was almost chalk white. Nor was it the fact that her daughters hair seemed to have been bleached of most of its colour from what was obviously a long stay underground, no, although all of these things were worrying in her own right, the fact that really drew the goddess' ire were the wounds. Deliberate wounds. Drawn out wounds. Ones that had been cause slowly and had obviously been done in a way as to cause as much pain as physically Possible. It was almost as though…

She was just reaching this conclusion when she felt the room beneath her shake to its very foundations forcing her to look up into murderous sea green ones that seemed to promise a slow and painful death to whoever had done this. Those eyes locked onto hers silently confirming what her suspicions had been all along. This was deliberate, this was torture.

Before, however, the two of them could act on their fury, a small flash of light above the sea deity's head drew everyone's attention and he reached up to pluck it out of the air with numb hands before reading.

_Dear past Olympians,_

_As you saw before, somehow the time arc we were using to transport the demigods back was being intercepted by something, then, just now, it was wrenched suddenly from our control. We have no power over it for now, though we have our suspicions as to who does, but we do know this. The children here are not from the same time as they had been previously. We will do all we can to fix this quickly, but we fear that we are dealing with a force much more powerful than ourselves. Try to carry on for now,_

_Hermes, Apollo & Athena_

The room fell silent after this declaration, all eyes fell on the 5 gods currently knelt on the floor next to the teenagers. No one knew what to say in this sort of situation, how could they? But they all felt concern for the children on the floor. Unable to think of what to do, they remained as silent and still as the columns that supported the cavernous ceiling, a state they probably would have remained in for several long minutes had another note not landed on Zeus' lap. This one however, was not on the light parchment as the others, nor was the writing in olden ink, instead, this note seemed to have been written in human blood on a page of obsidian paper, clear enough that all the occupants in the room, with vision as clear as theirs was, could read it with ease .

_Well, hello there children, I noticed that you were having this little get together and decided to make things more_ _enjoyable for you so I took the liberty of taking all of those _boring_ children away and replacing them with some at more _interesting_ points of their lives. I hope you enjoy this special gift to you and I expect you will find my little blessing later on when you continue to read. Good day to you all now! _

_Love_

_Mother Earth_

If everyone had been held in place by shock before, now the chains that bound them were fear. They did not know what to think of Gaia's little gift for them, and everyone seemed to be on the verge of an all out argument, but just then the son of the sea's eyelids fluttered lightly before he groaned and opened them to stare straight into the face of his father.

"Dad?"


End file.
